Latest news with #BreadofAngels
Euronews
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Patti Smith announces a new memoir 'Bread of Angels'
ADVERTISEMENT The legendary Patti Smith has shared details of her new memoir, 'Bread of Angels', which will be published on 4 November. Smith, 78, made the announcement on Instagram alongside an image of the poet-writer-musician with her parents as a young adult, writing: 'This is with my mother and father who inspired much of my next book Bread of Angels. The memoir, a bright and dark dance of life, will be published on November 4th, by Random House.' 'Bread of Angels' is Smith's third memoir after the wonderful 'Just Kids' in 2010 and the mesmerizing 'M Train' in 2015. In 'Just Kids,' winner of the 2010 National Book Award, Smith looked back on her early years in New York City and her romance and friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Meanwhile, 'M Train' was a chronicle of Smith's later years following the huge success of her album 'Horses' in 1975 and the 40 years that came after which were tragically punctuated by the losses of her husband Fred 'Sonic' Smith, her brother Todd Smith, and Mapplethorpe - who all died within the space of a few weeks in 1994. Voir cette publication sur Instagram Une publication partagée par This is Patti Smith (@thisispattismith) 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'.' It continues: '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.' The book's release date is deeply personal, coinciding with Mapplethorpe's birthday and the anniversary of Fred Smith's death. Later this year, Smith will spend time on the road celebrating the 50th anniversary of her seminal debut album, 'Horses' - which features hits like 'Gloria' and 'Redondo Beach'. 'Horses' has appeared in numerous lists of the greatest albums of all time and was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation into the National Recording Registry in 2009. Smith collapsed on stage in Brazil in January and later wrote on Instagram that she suffered 'some post migraine dizziness.' The incident has not stopped her from planning her upcoming tour in Europe, which starts on 1 July in Germany and will take her to Italy, Ireland, UK, Belgium, Norway and France, where she'll round off the EU leg of her tour on 21 October at L'Olympia in Paris.
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Patti Smith to publish ‘intimate' new memoir, Bread of Angels
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. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion 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.
