SF Leonard Cohen Festival: Poetry & Song

The San Francisco Leonard Cohen Festival returns on Friday, November 6, with an evening devoted to the enduring poetry and music of Leonard Cohen. Doors open at 6:30 pm and the program begins at 7:30 pm. This event is for guests 21 and up.

Presented as part of the annual San Francisco Leonard Cohen Festival, the evening brings together Bay Area poets and singer/songwriters to explore the language, melodies, themes, and emotional depth of Cohen’s work. Rather than simply revisiting familiar songs, the program creates space for artists to engage with the late troubadour’s writing from their own perspectives, highlighting the lasting influence of his words across music and poetry.

Founded in 2018, the San Francisco Leonard Cohen Festival has developed into a yearly celebration of Cohen’s artistic legacy. Each November, the festival gathers musicians, poets, artists, and audiences for a series of events presented across multiple venues. Its programming reflects the breadth of Cohen’s career, recognizing him not only as a celebrated songwriter, but also as a poet and author whose writing explored love, spirituality, mortality, longing, solitude, and human connection.

The festival is presented by Conspiracy of Beards, a San Francisco-based 30-member male choir dedicated to performing Cohen’s music. Their involvement has helped establish a community-centered tradition around Cohen’s work, while the wider festival provides opportunities for individual artists and performers to interpret his material in varied ways.

For longtime Cohen listeners, Poetry & Song offers a chance to hear familiar ideas reconsidered through the voices of contemporary Bay Area artists. For those less familiar with his work, the evening provides an introduction to the distinctive combination of poetry, storytelling, and music that defined his creative life.

With doors at 6:30 pm and the performance beginning at 7:30 pm, attendees can arrive early and settle in before the program starts. The 21-and-up evening is part of a broader annual festival celebrating Cohen’s words, music, and continuing artistic influence.