Patti Smith has announced a fourth memoir, Bread of Angels, to be published on November 4.
The publication date is described as “especially meaningful” to Smith, as it is both the birthday of her late partner Robert Mapplethorpe, and the anniversary of her late husband Fred 'Sonic Smith’s death.
The synopsis for Bread of Angels reads: “The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs, Bread of Angels takes us through her teenage years when the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative heroes and role models as Smith starts to write poetry, then lyrics, merging both into the iconic recordings and songs such as Horses and Easter, Dancing Barefoot and Because the Night.
“As Smith suffers profound losses, grief and gratitude are braided through years of caring for her children, rebuilding her life, and, finally, writing again - the one constant on a path driven by artistic freedom and the power of the imagination to transform the mundane into the beautiful, the commonplace into the magical, and pain into hope. In the final pages, we meet Patti Smith on the road again, the vagabond who travels to commune with herself, who lives to write and writes to live.”
Alexis Kirschbaum, head of Bloomsbury Trade, the book's UK publisher, says, "Patti Smith is a living legend. 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."
Smith's previous memoirs were titled Kids, M Train, and Year Of The Monkey. She describes her forthcoming book as "a bright and dark dance of life."
Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Johnny Depp, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O were among the stars who gathered in New York's iconic Carnegie Hall last month to pay tribute to Smith's music and poetry.
People Have The Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith was staged on March 26, with 100% of net proceeds being donated to support youth music and writing education programs.
Other artists performing on the night included Kim Gordon, Sharon Von Etten, Ben Harper, Courtney Barnett, The Kills' Alison Mosshart and The National's Matt Berninger, with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea playing in the house band, alongside The Rolling Stones' drummer Steve Jordan, and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
