Leonard Cohen Wins, Then Gives Away $50,000

Image by Getty Images
Leonard Cohen humbly accepted the Glenn Gould Prize on May 14 in Toronto, and then promptly gave away the $50,000 that goes with it to the Canada Council for the Arts.
“Thank you so much … how very kind of you to greet me with such hospitality,” the 77-year-old poet, songwriter, singer and author said as he briefly doffed his trademark black fedora. Cohen kept his acceptance remarks short so as to allow maximum time onstage for the musicians who had come to honor him by performing covers of some of his most famous songs. Among them were Illinois country-folk songwriter John Prine, Toronto roots outfit Cowboy Junkies and Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor. Cohen’s son Adam was also there to fete his father, performing “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye” and the 1967 hit “So Long, Marianne.”
Cohen did, however, take the time to tell the story of how he first met the late Glenn Gould, the eccentric piano virtuoso, many years ago. Cohen was 20 years old at the time and had gone to Gould’s Toronto home to interview him for an article. In an age before tape recorders, Cohen had to write everything down. When the interview, initially meant to take only a few minutes stretched on for hours, Cohen stopped taking notes. “I was so engrossed by what he was saying, I stopped taking notes. Those words were burned into my soul,” Cohen recounted. The only problem was that when he returned home to Montreal to write the article, “I couldn’t remember a word that he said.”
Actor Alan Rickman, author Michael Ondaatje, and journalist and stateswoman Adrienne Clarkson came on stage to praise Cohen, who is the ninth recipient of this biennial award. But perhaps the simplest and most moving tribute came from Adam Cohen. “I welled up when my father was speaking. I’m so honored to be part of this honor,” the son said. “Thank you for the music. Thank you dad.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.