Writers Bloc and The Ebell of Los Angeles present Patti Smith

Soak in an unforgettable evening of songs and stories with the iconic Patti Smith in support of her latest work, a Best Book of the Year from Time, NPR, and The New Yorker! The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs, Bread of Angels takes us through her teenage years where the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative role models as she begins to write poetry then lyrics, ultimately merging both into the songs of iconic recordings such as Horses, Wave, and Easter.

She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred Sonic Smith, with whom she creates a life of devotion and adventure on a canal in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Here, she invents a room of her own, a low table, a Persian cup, inkwell and pen, entering at dawn to write. The couple spend nights in their landlocked Chris-Craft boat studying nautical maps and charting new adventures as they start a family.

A series of profound losses mark Smith's life. Grief and gratitude are braided through years of caring for her children, rebuilding her life and, finally, writing again—the one constant in a life driven by artistic freedom and the power of the imagination to transform the commonplace into the magical, and pain into hope. In the final pages, we meet Smith on the road again, the vagabond who travels to commune with herself, who lives to write and writes to live.

Each ticket includes a copy of Bread of Angels, as well as a performance by Patti Smith and musicians Jackson Smith (Patti’s son) and Tony Shanahan. Books must be picked up at the event as we can not hold or ship any books.

The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official position or opinions of The Ebell of Los Angeles.