Speaker Series: Leonard Cohen’s life and music on Hydra

In 1959, Leonard Cohen, the young and then unknown Canadian musician and poet went for the first time to the Greek island of Hydra, where he spent the next decade and where he wrote some of his most popular and emblematic songs. Professor Karalis explores Cohen’s residence on the island, his contact with the local population and the cultural cosmopolitanism he inaugurated that became a global movement in the following decades.

After he moved out, Cohen visited Hydra almost till the end of his life and always stressed that “his education in the world” started on that small island. This lecture attempts a brief assessment of his legend and artistic legacy by discussing his life and interactions with the locals and his memories from the island.

DR VRASIDAS KARALIS holds the Chair of Sir Nicholas Laurantos in Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney. His main areas of research are Greek studies, Film Studies, Greek-Australian Literature, Byzantine Culture and Theology, and the work of Patrick White. He has translated Patrick White’s Voss and The Vivisector, as well as well Michael Dransfield’s and Martin Johnston’s poems into Greek. Recently he was elected fellow in the Australian Academy for the Humanities in Canberra.

To access books on the life and works of Leonard Cohen and our catalogue, click here

ABOUT THE VENUE:

MARRICKVILLE PAVILION AND LIBRARY is accessible by lift from both the street and ground levels. The venue is accessible for people using wheelchairs and other mobility aids. There is a hearing loop available.

If you have any access or support requirements in order to participate fully, please let us know when you book via the order form to ensure that we can arrange any reasonable adjustments.

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