Patti Smith Books in Order

A radiant memoir focusing on Smith's childhood and the early sparks of her imagination. She recounts growing up in a condemned housing complex, leading a "sibling army," and discovering the magic that would fuel her life as an artist.

A visual diary inspired by Smith’s popular Instagram account. Featuring 365 photographs—one for each day—it offers a glimpse into her daily life, her travels, and the talismans that spark her creativity.

A surreal travelogue documenting a year of wandering across California and the West. Blending reality with dream logic, Smith confronts aging and a shifting political landscape while interacting with talking signs and strange strangers.

A comprehensive survey of David Lynch’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Smith contributes texts that engage with Lynch’s dark, dreamlike visual language, offering a writer's perspective on his artistic output.

An exploration of the creative process in three parts. Smith details a journey to France, presents a fictional short story about an obsessive skater, and reflects on how life's small moments transmute into art.

An updated and expanded compilation of lyrics from over forty years of albums. This volume traces Smith’s evolution as a songwriter, from the punk anthems of the seventies to the reflective ballads of her later records.

A wandering, meditative memoir told through the cafés Smith frequents around the world. She reflects on coffee, detective shows, her late husband Fred "Sonic" Smith, and the drifting nature of memory and loss.

Smith presents her own English translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s masterpiece. Driven by a lifelong connection to the French poet, her version aims to capture the fiery, visionary spirit of the original text.

A legendary memoir of New York City in the late sixties and seventies. Smith chronicles her intense friendship and romance with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as they both navigate poverty, youth, and the path to becoming artists.

A boxed set of three small volumes—*Charleville*, *Statues*, and *Cahier*—that explore Smith’s obsession with Arthur Rimbaud, her photography, and her private notebooks. It serves as an intimate artifact of her artistic process.

Smith’s first major collection of new poems in over two decades. The work moves through landscapes of innocence and experience, touching on nature, political unrest, and the passing of time with a matured, meditative voice.

A visual art book featuring drawings and works on paper by Smith, many created in the aftermath of 9/11. The collection highlights her practice as a visual artist, using text and image to process trauma and history.

A definitive collection of lyrics spanning Smith’s career, accompanied by her own notes and photographs. It offers fans a deeper look into the stories and inspirations behind songs like "Because the Night" and "People Have the Power."

A linked series of prose poems written as a eulogy for Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith reimagines her friend’s final voyage through the metaphor of a man navigating the Southern Cross, blending grief with a celebration of his art.

A comprehensive anthology bringing together poetry and prose from Smith’s first decade as a writer. It includes selections from *Seventh Heaven*, *Witt*, and *Babel*, providing an essential overview of her literary roots.

A slim, luminous memoir that revisits the author's childhood in New Jersey. Through dreamy vignettes, Smith recalls the cloud-gazing and daydreaming that shaped her imagination long before she found fame.

This 1978 collection gathers poems, prose, lyrics, and drawings from Smith’s breakout years. It documents her transition from downtown poet to rock icon, offering a fragmented but vivid look at her creative output during the punk explosion.

A long-form poem originally published as a chapbook in 1977. Written as a tribute to the escape artist Harry Houdini, the work blends Smith’s signature lyrical style with meditations on magic, entrapment, and liberation.

A 1973 poetry collection featuring some of Smith's most experimental early writing. The pieces range from surrealist dreamscapes to gritty observations of urban life, capturing the voice of a young artist finding her footing in the underground scene.

Smith’s first published collection of poetry, released before her recording career began. These early poems explore themes of femininity, religion, and rock and roll with the raw, defiant energy that would soon define her punk persona.