UK publisher Canongate has announced that a posthumous volume of of poetry by the legendary late songwriter Leonard Cohen will be released in October of next year. The new book, entitled The Flame, will be published by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux in the United States.
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According to representatives from the respective publishing companies involved, Cohen finished assembling the book himself in the months prior to his death in November of last year. As The Guardian reports, the “overwhelming majority of The Flame will consist of new Cohen poems…Cohen drew from unreleased notebook sketches. The volume will also incorporate lyrics from his last three albums, as well as words he wrote for the 2006 album Blue Alert by Anjani, Cohen’s former backing singer, co-songwriter and girlfriend.
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Cohen’s former manager, Robert Kory, talked to The Guardian further about the creation and themes of the anthology in an interview accompanying the book’s announcement: “During the final months of his life, Leonard had a singular focus — completing this book, taken largely from his unpublished poems and selections from his notebooks. The flame and how our culture threatened its extinction was a central concern. Though in declining health, Leonard died unexpectedly. Those of us who had the rare privilege of spending time with him during this period recognised that the flame burned bright within him to the very end. This book, finished only days before his death, reveals to all the intensity of his inner fire.”
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Leonard Cohen released his last full volume of new poetry, entitled Book of Longing, in 2006. You can read excerpts from Book of Longing here.
[h/t – Spin]