Patti Smith Announces Autumn Release For New Memoir Year Of The Monkey
Friday, 31 May 2019
Written by Laura Johnson
Patti Smith has announced a new memoir.
Year Of The Monkey will arrive on September 24. The announcement coincides with the release of 'The Peyote Dance', her new album with Soundwalk Collective that came out today (May 31).
"From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year.
Following a run of New Year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs–including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger’s words, “Anything is possible: after all, it’s the Year of the Monkey.” For Smith–inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing–the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.
Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.
Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times."
Patti Smith published her first memoir, Just Kids, in 2010 and her second, M Train, in 2015. She's also released numerous poetry collections.
Smith and her band will appear at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park on August 1 as part of the Summer Nights series and All Together Now festival in Ireland the following day. She's also got performances lined up across Europe throughout the summer.
Patti Smith Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Thu August 01 2019 - GLASGOW Kelvingrove Park
Sun June 16 2019 - OSLO Sentrum Scene (Norway)
Wed June 19 2019 - STOCKHOLM Waterfront (Sweden)
Mon August 19 2019 - MARSEILLE Theatre Silvaine (France)
Tue August 20 2019 - NICE Theatre de Verdure (France)
Wed August 21 2019 - LYON Le Transbordeur (France)
Mon August 26 2019 - PARIS Olympia (France)
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
