NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A 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.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Variety, Pitchfork, PopSugar
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. 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. 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. Original to this book are vintage photographs:
anniversary pearls, a mother's keychain, and a husband's Mosrite guitar.
Here, too, are photos from Smith's archives of life on and off the road,
train stations, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby. In wide-ranging
yet intimate daily notations, Smith shares dispatches from her travels
around the world.
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. 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.
