Join us for an evening celebrating the release of Patti Smith’s new memoir, Bread of Angels. The event features a live performance and an intimate discussion with Smith about the creation of her latest work, which spans her life from childhood to present day. Each ticket includes a copy of Patti Smith's memoir, Bread of Angels.
In Smith's most intimate and visionary work, she describes her post- World War II childhood in working class Philadelphia and South Jersey, her teenage years when the first glimmers of art and romance take hold, her rise as a punk rock icon to her retreat from public life when she meets her one true love and starts a family on the shores of Lake Saint Clair, Michigan. As Smith suffers profound losses, she also returns to writing, the one constant on a lifelong path driven by artistic freedom and the power of imagination.
On November 4, 2025, fifteen years after publication of the National Book Award Winning classic Just Kids and capping off the 50th Anniversary Tour of Horses, Patti Smith's iconic first album, Random House published Patti Smith's long-awaited memoir, Bread of Angles.
"November 4th is especially meaningful to me," says Smith. "It's the birthday of Robert Mapplethorpe and the anniversary of my late husband Fred "Sonic" Smith's passing. It took a decade to write this book, grappling with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime. I'm hoping that people will find something they need."
Patti Smith is also the author of A Book of Days, Woolgathering, M Train, Year of the Monkey, and Collected Lyrics. Her seminal album Horses, which was released fifty years ago, has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. Her global exhibitions include Strange Messenger, Land 250, Camera Solo, and Evidence. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commander des Arts et des Lettres. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith is also the recipient of the ASCAP Founders Award, Sweden's Polar Music Prize, the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, and the Legion d'honneur.
This event is welcomed by WXPN.
