A celebration of Leonard Cohen is set to take place in Tipperary this Sunday

John McKenna’s book Absent Friend is a meditation on a thirty year friendship between Leonard Cohen and Irish writer John MacKenna. Through their letters, emails and MacKenna’s exploration of his favourite Leonard Cohen songs, the book builds a picture of a comradeship that culminated in their creating. Between Your Love and Mine, a requiem Mass for theatre, in the months before Leonard’s death.

In the afternoon, Leonard Cohen’s songs will be performed by Katie Jacques with readings and reflections by John McKenna on a very important and unique friendship.

John MacKenna is the author of seventeen books—novels, short-stories, memoir, biography and poetry and a former radio producer for RTE Radio 1. He has also written a number of stage and radio plays and is a frequent contributor to radio. He is a winner of the Hennessy New Writing Award, the Irish Times Fiction Award and the Cecil Day Lewis Literary Award; his novel The Space Between Us was shortlisted for the Kerry Book of the Year Award.

Katie Jacques is a singer/songwriter. Born in Brighton, she moved to Ireland at the age of seven. Following her secondary education, she went on to take a BA in music at Cork School of Music. She sang lead in Leonard Cohen’s requiem for theatre Between Your Love and Mine She currently works as a musician and teacher of music in Cork.

The event takes place Sunday, October 13^th at 5:30pm, Abbey Court Hotel. 

Tickets are priced at €20 and include tea/coffee and cake.