Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years

A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of 2020
“Posner undertook dozens and dozens of interviews … creating a unique oral history, as if they’re in a room together, sharing memories and stories… . They’re linked together with a light narrative voice that gives this biography a very intimate and personal feel.”
— Toronto Star
“The life of Leonard Cohen—poet, novelist, artist, Zen monk, and oh, yes, singer-songwriter—is too vast to be contained within one book. Thankfully, Posner is giving us three… . Posner draws on hundreds of interviews to explore Cohen’s private and public lives, his complexities and contradictions, and, of course, his inarguable charisma. Serve yourself some tea and oranges and settle in.”
— Zoomer
“Through these stories, a unique portrait of a young Leonard Cohen is revealed, with insights into not only his extraordinary life but also his timeless poetry and music.”
— ANNE MURRAY, Grammy Award–winning singer
“Posner masterfully weaves an abundance of interviews with Cohen’s family, friends, and myriad lovers to create an intricate tapestry and, ultimately, produces the most revealing portrait of the legendary songwriter and wordsmith to date.”
— NICHOLAS JENNINGS, journalist and bestselling author of Lightfoot
“Out of a welter of stories—from those who encountered Leonard Cohen as associate, friend, or lover—Michael Posner has shaped a fascinating multi-faceted portrait. Posner is indeed Cohen’s Boswell, no doubt about it.”
— SEYMOUR MAYNE, poet, editor, and translator
“Offers an impressively thorough excavation of stories, including some gems and, well, dirt. Together, [Posner’s] various positions and perspectives create a cubist portrait of the Montreal-born icon as a young man—and simultaneously an artist, intellectual, prankster, bon vivant, workaholic, and dabbler in everything … If Cohen’s your man and you’re his fan, you’ll want this book.”
— Maclean’s
“Posner masterfully weaves the story of the iconic musician’s life through hundreds of interviews with the people who knew him best, including family members, business partners, and lovers alike.”
— Chatelaine
“Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album in 2019 proved he still had something profound to say, even in death. This book likewise confirms that hundreds of others have their own tales to tell about the master songwriter. The first of three volumes, it covers his early life via a myriad of fascinating interviewees, from rabbis to lovers… . Give it to anyone who misses Cohen.”
— Evening Standard
“As the anecdotes accumulate up until 1970, they build a compelling picture of the worlds around [Cohen]—affluent Montreal suburbia, Canadian Jewish summer camps, beatnik coffeehouses, jetset bohemia—grounding his myth in solid context, enriching it with casual detail… . As with any good oral history, the stories and opinions slowly coalesce like pointillist dots, shifting into a complex portrait of a man stepping into his myth, becoming brilliant.”
— MOJO Magazine
“Sex, drugs, and poetry permeate this oral history of Leonard Cohen… . This book offers a seductive blend of sometimes contradictory insights.”
— Library Journal
“A detailed account of Cohen’s fascinating early life and career. For serious Cohen fans, it’s a page-tuner.”
— Canadian Jewish Record
“[The] multiple perspectives capture man and myth in tandem. For all of his gift for words, Cohen would have struggled to tell his story better himself.”
— Uncut Magazine

Michael Posner is an award-winning writer, playwright, and journalist, and the author of nine previous books. These include the bestselling Mordecai Richler biography The Last Honest Man, and the Anne Murray biography All of Me, as well as the first two books in the Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories series, The Early Years, Vol. 1 and From This Broken Hill, Vol. 2. He was Washington Bureau Chief for Maclean’s magazine, and later served as its national, foreign, and assistant managing editor. He was also managing editor of the Financial Times of Canada for three years. He later spent sixteen years as a senior writer with The Globe and Mail (Toronto).

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