Leonard Cohen (again) and storytelling

Lucy Guest has a  nice if slightly sentimental piece over in the UK independent about the impact of stories – she mentions laughing len and john hegley among others.

Now things are different: books come with a battery life measured in units of War and Peace and stories can come with you everywhere except in the bath or the rain. But the storytellers haven’t gone away.

I noticed this for the first time this summer as I sat cross-legged in the mud at the Big Chill festival’s Words in Motion tent and John Hegley told a story about a dog. This year’s festival was a real treat for the kind of gig goers who like to listen to the words. It was Leonard Cohen (right) – an old-fashioned troubadour in a big black hat – who blew us all away. But I noticed that his audience and Hegley’s listened with the same expression. Sprawling on the ground or swaying in front of the main stage, their faces were those of children listening to stories, with the same wonder as if they were hearing all about the princess and the pea.

ps also a piece on the Independent about Tomi Ungerer (see below) apparently he has a museum dedicated to him in his home town of Strasbourg – The The Tomi Ungerer International Centre for Illustration opened last year.