The Wordless Leonard Cohen Songbook

Book excerpt: In The Wordless Leonard Cohen Songbook, master engraver George A. Walker provides a new perspective on a man whose words have captivated generations. Walker’s latest wordless narrative presents a suite of 80 wood engravings commemorating the life and artistic accomplishments of Leonard Cohen, the Montreal-born poet, novelist, and singer-songwriter whose career has spanned almost six decades. Best read to music, The Wordless Leonard Cohen Songbook presents images of Cohen’s iconic public persona alongside vivid interpretations of his ever-evolving work. The engravings compose a biographical mosaic that invites readers backstage, behind the curtains of Cohen’s critical and commercial acclaim. Some scenes are drawn from history; other depictions arise from imagination and interpretation. These images encourage us to search beyond the visual elements and to see in them a poem, a song, a meaningful turn of phrase. They urge us to look beyond the black and white and to consider Cohen’s life and work through the lens of our own experience. The Wordless Leonard Cohen Songbook originated in celebration of Cohen’s 80th birthday as a limited edition of 80 copies hand printed in Walker’s studio in Leslieville, Toronto.