When writer Pico Iyer drove to a California monastery in 1995 to profile famed singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen for a story, he was a longtime fan of his music. That fateful meeting turned into a deep friendship that lasted over 20 years. “He did have that rare gift for making me feel as if there was nothing I couldn't say,” Pico said.
And the men were both drawn to periods of solitude. In his 30s, Pico left his glamorous and exciting dream job in New York to travel to a Japanese monastery, but found the monastic life wasn’t for him. However, that visit to Japan introduced him to his wife and his new home. Anna talks with Pico — whose new book "The Half-Known Life," is a chronicle of his visits to holy sites and sacred places — about the chance encounters that shaped his life, how he’s learned to let go, and how much he still misses his friend, Leonard Cohen.
How to Say Goodbye to Your Pets
Your One Night Stand Stories, Revisited
Gabrielle Union Completes Herself
Margo Price After Cheating and Drinking
Your Estrangement Calls Answered Live
Why the Creators of "Everything Everywhere All At Once" Treat Their Partnership Like a Marriage
Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp Talk About Their Divorce, Anxiety, and Slowing Down
Trevor Noah Talks Depression, Radical Honesty, and Braiding Hair
Radiolab’s Lulu Miller Steals All Her Best Ideas From Her Kids
Estrangement’s Alternate Endings
Then I Blocked Them: How Estrangement Became Official
Estrangement Purgatory
Fran Lebowitz’s Guide to Life (And Parties)
Estrangement: We Were Close, Now I Don’t Know You
Race and Friendship After 2020: An Update
Between Friends: Stories About Race and Friendship
An Update from the Sex Worker Next Door
Sandra Cisneros on Sex, Aging, and the Paranormal
Singing in the Pain: Hrishikesh Hirway on his Mother, Grief and Creativity
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Stuff You Should Know
On Being with Krista Tippett
TED Radio Hour
Planet Money
The Dinner Party Download