Ireland’s first ever festival dedicated to Leonard Cohen runs from Thursday, August 7 to Sunday, August 10 with an exciting programme of music, film and literature in Dublin’s Liberty Hall and tours across the city centre.
Dublin - as a UNECSCO City of Literature long renowned for its poets, writers and musicians - is the perfect host for this Leonard Cohen Event, which is an established bi-annual festival that travels the world.
The origins of the Leonard Cohen Event are as pure as his music. In the spring of 2000, a group of fans, many already known online to one another through the Leonard Cohen Forum and Leonardcohenfiles.com, had gathered in his native Montreal in celebration of his art. The event was so successful and enjoyable that the bi-annual Leonard Cohen Event was conceived. It is organised by fans for fans and will welcome all lovers of Cohen’s music and poetry with an exciting, packed programme of international and local performers in Dublin.
Although he will not be in attendance himself, the Leonard Cohen Event is well-known to the legendary performer who often sends greetings and gifts to the participants. Since the first gathering in Montreal in 2000, the event has captivated audiences in Hydra, Greece (2002); New York, USA (2004); Berlin, Germany (2006); Edmonton, Canada (2008); Krakow, Poland (2010); and Madison, USA (2012).
Among the highlights of the Leonard Cohen Event Dublin are an exclusive screening of never before broadcast footage of one of Leonard’s concerts from his 2013 tour which has been provided by his manager, Ed Sanders, specially for the Dublin Event. A afternoon of spoken word features John MacKenna, Dermot Bolger, Gerard Smyth, Leif Bodnarchuk – who worked with Cohen from 2008-2013 – and festival favourites, The Poetry Divas. International bands performing include the acclaimed Ali & The Thieves from Australia and Patricia O’Callaghan from Canada; while Irish musicians and bands Gerry Tully, The Van Diemens and Tir na nÓg will share their evocative interpretations of Leonard Cohen songs.
