ANN ARBOR – Nicola's Books has teamed up with the Michigan Theater to present An Evening with Patti Smith at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12. The legendary multi-platform artist will read excerpts from her new memoir, "M Train," lead an audience Q&A and sign books in her only Michigan stop on the book tour.
Smith has said of "M Train," "It's a roadmap to my life." The book's odyssey begins in a tiny Greenwich Village cafe, where Smith goes every morning, and takes readers on a journey through mind, memory and spirit. Travel from Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico to a meeting of an Arctic explorer's society in Berlin, and to Smith's favorite cafes and haunts around the world. With prose that shifts between dreams and reality, and across a landscape of creative inspiration, "M Train" illustrates Smith's deepest literary obsessions, augmented by her own stunning black-and-white Polaroids.
Woven throughout are reflections on the writer's craft and on artistic creation, alongside signature memories including her life in Michigan with her husband, guitarist Fred Sonic Smith, whose untimely death was an irremediable loss. For it is loss, as well as the consolation we might salvage from it, that lies at the heart of this exquisitely meditation on endings and on beginnings.
Smith is the author of "Just Kids," which won the National Book Award in 2010, and of five collections of poetry. Her seminal album "Horses" has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Tickets are available at Nicola's Books and all Ticketmaster outlets, including ticketmaster.com. Tickets are $24.50 and $35. All tickets include a hard cover copy of "M Train." Books will be available for pick-up the night of the show at the Michigan Theater.
The photo on the book's jacket is a sacred memento for Smith: It shows her at Cafe 'Ino in Greenwich Village, where "M Train" begins, and where Smith went every morning for a breakfast of black coffee and brown bread. On the last day before Cafe 'Ino closed, a passing photographer took the picture.
Nicola's Books features adult novels, kids' books, out-of-print searches and everything in-between. Nicola's Books has been Ann Arbor's premier independent bookstore for more than 20 years. Visit Nicola's in the Westgate Shopping Center at 2513 Jackson Ave. or at nicolasbooks.com.
Now celebrating its 88th year, the Michigan Theater is Ann Arbor's award-winning nonprofit historic center for fine film and performing arts. The Michigan Theater welcomes more than 300,000 visitors each year to its art house films, concerts, lectures, live theater, and special programs such as New York Film Critics Series and Cinetopia International Film Festival. The Michigan Theater also owns and operates the historic State Theater located just up the street at 233 State St. The Michigan Theater is located in downtown Ann Arbor at 603 E. Liberty St. Visit michtheater.org or call the 24-hour information line at 734-668-TIME for schedule and ticket information.
