Patti Smith has written a memoir that her publishers are describing as her “most intimate and visionary work” yet, which is due out this autumn.
Bread of Angels will cover everything from Smith’s childhood in working-class Philadelphia and South Jersey to her rise as a punk rock star and her subsequent retreat from public life.
“It took a decade to write this book, grappling with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime,” Smith said. “I’m hoping that people will find something they need.”
The singer won the 2010 National Book award for nonfiction, a prestigious US literary prize, for her previous memoir, Just Kids, which she had promised the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, her longtime partner and friend, that she would write.
Bread of Angels will be published on 4 November, in the gap between the Europe and US dates of Smith’s 50th anniversary tour of her first album, Horses. The date is “especially meaningful” to the artist, as it is both Mapplethorpe’s birthday and the anniversary of her late husband Fred “Sonic” Smith’s death.
As well as Just Kids, which documented her relationship with Mapplethorpe, Smith has written four other books including memoirs M Train, about her relationship with Smith, and Year of the Monkey. The latter focuses on 2016, when Smith’s friend, the producer, manager and rock critic Sandy Pearlman, died, and the musician was confronted with grief for him alongside fears about the rise of populism, the climate crisis, and her impending 70th birthday.
“Patti Smith is a living legend,” said Alexis Kirschbaum, head of Bloomsbury Trade, which will be publishing the book in the UK. “While her lyrics and music have inspired generations of listeners, her books have made her one of the most cherished and influential writers of the last 50 years. Bread of Angels confirms her position as a writer.”
As well as music and literature, Smith has also created visual art and photography, which has been exhibited globally. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the ASCAP Founders award, Sweden’s Polar Music prize, the PEN/Audible Literary Service award, and France’s Légion d’honneur.
