The Leonard Cohen Chair of the University of Oviedo begins its offer by approaching the keys of the creative process through writing, movies and music, and it will do so by transforming the creators into the protagonists. A series of documentaries, a workshop on poetic creation and an approach to the first contacts of Cohen, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, with Spain open the offer for this academic year.

A series of documentaries entitled Crea.doc will set in motion the activities scheduled for the Chair on October 21st. Crea.doc will project at the Cultural Center for University Extension LAUDEO (Historical Building) three works that immerse themselves into the universe and the process followed by creators in the world of cinema, music and poetry. The audience will also be able to meet and speak with the creators of each documentary.

Writing heads: hablan los guionistas, by Alfonso S. Suárez, will be the first pieces that will be projected on October 21st. The documentary narrates the creative experiences of screenwriters and offers testimonies of people such as Agustín Díaz Yanes, Gonzalo Suárez, Juan Tébar, Lola Salvador, Ignacio del Moral, Alicia Luna, Jaime Chávarri or Daniel Sánchez Arévalo.

The second work projected by Crea.doc is Auto, by Luis Alfaro, a musical documentary on the rise of musical self-publishing, starred by Jero Romero, Vetusta Morla, Amaral, Nacho Vegas, Fernando Alfaro, and Joaquín Pascual, among others. It will take place on October 28th. The cycle will be closed on November 14th with the projection of Se dice poeta: una mirada de género al panorama poético español. The work by Sofía Castañón approaches the labor of 21 female poets, born between 1974 and 1990, who shed light on the creation, dissemination, criticism and reception of their poetry.

Poet and narrator Juan Bonilla (Jerez, 1966) will be in charge of directing the Workshop on Poetic Creation promoted by the Leonard Cohen Chair that will take place between October 29 and October 31 at the LAUDEO Cultural Center. The workshop is proposed as a meeting point between the creator and their audiences, and as an opportunity to exchange creative forms and formulae. Those who are interested in participating will have to pre-register at the Office of the Vice-Rector for University Extension and Communication (3 Principado St.) before October 22.

The knowledge and dissemination of the works byt he Canadian musician and poet will be focused on the conference by Gloria Crespo McLennan entitled Seis acordes: el hombre que enseñó a Cohen a tocar la guitarra. Una investigación en marcha. Cohen himself acknowledge during his speech at the Campoamor Theater, while receiving the Prince of Asturias Award, that many of his chords are based on those played by a young Gypsy man who played near his home during his first stays in Spain. The conference that will take place on October 28 will retrace those first steps by Cohen in our country.

The University of Oviedo set in motion the Leonard Cohen Chair, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, during the past April with the goal of contributing to the knowledge and dissemination of the works by the Canadian artist and to promote the poetic and musical creativity of our society, both from the point of view of dissemination and from the point of view of education.

This Chair has been made possible thanks to the willingness of Leonard Cohen of donating the economic part of the Prince of Asturias Award (€50,000) to a cultural initiative, and the support of the Prince of Asturias Foundation so that this money was transform into this proposal. The project, unique in Spain, aims at being "a meeting place between poetry and music, between creators and audiences, between art and society", as it is postulated in the agreement signed by the Rector of the University of Oviedo, Vicente Gotor, and artist Leonard Cohen.