Well, Leonard, I know you like to work - by the way, your new album's a tour de force; I just reviewed it, five stars, my head's still spinning at the poetry (yours, not mine). But I hope you get to kick back on your birthday and indulge in some guilty pleasures. This is where I take out my ukulele ...

Hi everyone, Sylvie here. Hope the Hydra celebration's going wonderfully. This post is for anyone who'll lives in Norway or will be there late June-early July. I'm flying over for 3 shows that sound really special. The first two are in Vesteralen in the north. On 27 June in a little church called Zo...

Hi everyone, Sylvie Simmons here. I have seen this ballet in person and it is very, very special. The choreographer Alvaro Restrepo first wrote to me about it almost exactly a year ago. And this January, when Iwas in Cartagena, Colombia for the Hay Literary Festival of the Americas, to talk about my...

I'll be bringing my ukuele, so on Saturday 11th I'll also be singing - some Leonard Cohen songs and maybe one or two of my own. Coincidentally, the producer of my upcoming album - Howe Gelb of Giant Sand - will also be performing in Dublin that day at a different show, and we're trying to work it ou...

I am deeply sorry to hear the news that Esther Cohen, Leonard's beloved big sister, has passed away. Idid not know her well but, thanks to Dick and Jarkko and various events I did in New York, I met her several times - as charming, vivacious and generous a spirit as you could hope to meet. And that ...

I just got a copy of the new US paperback of my book, hot off the press - so hot I was forced to wash it down with a nice cold glass of champagne! Whenever a new edition comes out, the author gets really nervous - we don't have any say on the quality of the printing etc, we just have to hope they've...

To MikeAus. Hi! I do hope Leonard makes it to Australia, but, like I said on the radio show, at this stage it's just a rumour. Fingers crossed this one turns out to be true. Best, Sylvie.

To John Etherington Very nice of you to volunteer to go onstage and answer questions for me at the London readings. I'm sure the audience will be delighted by your insights, and by your promise not to sing any Leonard Cohen songs. I don't quit understand the reference to "audacity" when it...

It's been very moving to read these tributes to Arlene. I met her twice, the first time at Book Soup, just after my Leonard Cohen biography came out, at one of the earliest reading and music events on the never-ending tour. I was talking to Aviva Layton, one of Irving Layton's former partners, and L...