Patti Smith's 'intimate' year in the life book signed by Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury has scooped A Book of Days by visual artist and singer-songwriter Patti Smith, an "impressionistic" day to day map of a year in her life.

UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, were bought from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein and Betsy Lerner at DCLA. The book will be published on 15th November 2022.

A Book of Days was inspired by Smith’s Instagram account, and contains original Polaroids among 365 photographs, in addition to an introduction by the artists. Known for shooting with her beloved Land 250 Camera, Smith started posting photographs with her phone online, including portraits of her chilldren, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. 

Instagram posts began to feature Smith’s daily coffee, the books she was reading, the graves of heroes such as William Blake, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Simone Weil and Albert Camus. "Over the days and months, a coherent story of a life devoted to art took shape in the extraordinarily personal photographs that chart Smith’s passions, devotions, obsessions and whims," the synopsis reads. "Original to this book are vintage photographs: anniversary pearls, a mother’s keychain, and a husband’s Mosrite guitar. Here, too, are previously unpublished photos of life on and off the road, train stations, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby.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.

Alexandra Pringle, executive publisher, said: "Intimate, revealing, impressionistic, this beautiful new book opens a window into the thoughts and daily life of Patti Smith, shedding a new light on her brilliance as a visual artist and photographer."

Smith, who won the National Book Award with her memoir Just Kids (Bloomsbury), said: "A Book of Days collects a calendar year of images and words for each day. A particular vision shared as stepping stones, hopefully leading readers to their own memories and impressions. Three hundred and sixty-six invitations to move together through time.”