Laced with gratitude and wonder, this is a transporting and affecting tour of Smith’s influences and aesthetics, an evocative celebration of her devotion to creativity and ‘the blessed task of remembrance.'” – Booklist “Her images of coffee cups and gravestones, beaches and gardens are intimate and poetic her captions are tender, imaginative, funny, and elegiac. “ vibrant photo scrapbook… Wrapped in a nostalgic glow, this will be an inspiration for Smith’s fans.” – Publishers Weekly Hopeful, elegiac, playful-and complete with an introduction by Smith that explores her documentary process- A Book of Days is a timeless offering for deeply uncertain times, an inspirational map of an artist’s life. With over 365 photographs taking you through a single year, A Book of Days is a new way to experience the expansive mind of the visionary poet, writer, and performer. In wide-ranging yet intimate daily notations, Smith shares dispatches from her travels around the world. Here, too, are photos from Smith’s archives of life on and off the road, train stations, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby. Original to this book are vintage photographs: anniversary pearls, a mother’s keychain, and a husband’s Mosrite guitar.

Over time, a coherent story of a life devoted to art took shape, and more than a million followers responded to Smith’s unique aesthetic in images that chart her passions, devotions, obsessions, and whims. Followers felt an immediate affinity with these miniature windows into Smith’s world, photographs of her daily coffee, the books she’s reading, the graves of beloved heroes-William Blake, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Simone Weil, Albert Camus. In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message “Hello Everybody!” Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.” – Michelle Obama, BecomingĪ Book of Days by Patti Smith nonfiction / art / photography / music / memoir.Ī deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids and M Train, featuring more than 365 images and reflections that chart Smith’s singular aesthetic-inspired by her wildly popular Instagram. “Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child-What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite.

Tracy cross rootwork