Leonard Cohen, Prince of Asturias Award for Letters

[Roy]

www.fpa.es/especial-premios-2011/imágen ... premiados/

Here he is! Just arrived!

http://www.fpa.es/especial-premios-2011 ... premiados/

[MaryB]

Glory be! He looks healthy and well-rested and quite dapper.

[Roy]

[rpan]

Newspaper article with same picture here http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/10/1 ... 73934.html

"Cohen has landed smiling and arriving Oviedo, past 2230 hours on Tuesday, has made a bow and his mythical hat has been removed before the bagpipers who receive awards at the gates of the Hotel Reconquista. After repeated the gesture with two dozens of fans who did guard in search for photos and autographs. The artist signed three books in this first contact with the city that comes to collect a prize for his literary career."...

A very charming but I think rather tired Mr Cohen is doing live press conference here (noon in Spain Oct 19th) http://www.fpa.es/especial-premios-2011/multimedia - finished now.

[jarkko]

Thanks for the link to the press conference! (It was at noon, not at 11 am). The simultaneous interpretation made it a bit difficult to follow what he said.
Perhaps our Spanish members could give us a summary.
Robert Kory was in the audience with the Spanish media people.
One of the reporters asked about his tour plans, and Leonard said that he does not know if there will be a tour or not.

[majmunka]

One of the reporters asked about his tour plans, and Leonard said that he does not know if there will be a tour or not.

Sure it's true but I've certainly heard something like G_d willing... in that answer
Eva

[hazey]

Leonard seemed to be a bit tired and jet-lagged.However, he was charming and sometimes funny. He didn't seem to be enjoying simultaneous translation too much and sometimes he asked for questions to be repeated.

The questions were not really interesting, basically just the kind of things that have been asked 100 times in the past.He confirmed the release of the new album, the title and the number of songs.He did not know if there was going to be a new tour. He would like to perform in Valencia someday and apologized for what happened in the last tour.He also spoke about Federico G. Lorca, how much his work had touched him when he was a teenager, how the silence in his poems spoke to him and how he felt it was the first writter who invited him into his world. There was also a question about flamenco . In the answer, he explained how much it had influenced his guitar playing and talked a bit about the first two guitars he played. The first one and the first GOOD one.

At some point some journalist asked him about indignados/anticapitalist movements and if he thought that present "budget cuts" could have an impact on art or culture.He answered that even though he emphatized with people without jobs or in difficult situations, art and culture had nothing to do with governments.

Finally, there was a lady from Uruguay who wanted to know if he prefered to be alone or with someone when it came to writting and Leonard asked her to answer the question herself. When she said : "sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied", Leonard agreed it was the right answer. This person later asked Leonard which of his two novels he recommended her to read. The answer was "None".

This is, more or less, all I can remember.

[bridger15]

A big thank you to Jarkko, Roy, Hazey, Rpan, Beatriz, Majmunka and other forum members for posting updates and translations to keep us in the loop.

Very much appreciated.

---Arlene

[sturgess66]

http://srnnews.townhall.com/photos/view ... f4bc6914c/

Media & Culture



Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen poses for photographers before a news conference in Oviedo, northern Spain, October 19, 2011. Cohen will be awarded with the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in a traditional ceremony on Friday in the Asturian capital. The awards have been given out annually since 1981 to reward scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work done by individuals, work teams and institutions. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso (SPAIN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY PORTRAIT)

[Goldin]

Listen To (& Download) Leonard Cohen Prince of Asturias Awards Press Conference via DrHGuy's blog

[Florian]

Video :

http://videos.lne.es/premios-principe/2 ... 6732.shtml

[LisaLCFan]

Listen To (& Download) Leonard Cohen Prince of Asturias Awards Press Conference via DrHGuy's blog

Thanks for this!

I love Leonard's answer to the question about which of his books he would recommend! (I disagree with him, by the way!)

[Goldin]

I love Leonard's answer to the question about which of his books he would recommend! (I disagree with him, by the way!)

Sorry, Hazey (and thanks for your report, of course!!) -
I've read the initial edition of your post, before you corrected it

This person later asked Leonard which of his two novels he recommended her to read. The answer was "Any".

And I thought, this is not a Leonardesque answer at all! "Any"?! - i.e., please buy anything in my bookstore?
"None" is a topnotch answer indeed!

[Goldin]

Hurrah, hurrah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2kIio3MxhY
Complete broadcast @ the channel of Fundación Príncipe de Asturias.

[LisaLCFan]

This person later asked Leonard which of his two novels he recommended her to read. The answer was "None".

To be precise, Leonard's answer was: "Don't waste your time." And then, he added, "I don't recommend either of them, to tell you the truth!"

He's such a funny guy!