AN EVENING WITH PATTI SMITH
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and National Book Award-winning author to discuss new book Year of the Monkey
December 17, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $37*
John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall
Books & Books (@booksandbooks), Miami Book Fair (@miamibookfair) and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) are proud to present two literary events during the Center’s 2019-2020 season: AN EVENING WITH TA-NEHISI COATES and AN EVENING WITH PATTI SMITH. On November 4, Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisipcoates), National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me, will discuss his new novel The Water Dancer, a boldly imaginative work of magic and adventure which was just selected as the latest pick for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club. On December 17, Patti Smith (@thisispattismith), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, will discuss her new book, Year of the Monkey, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year. Additional 2019-2020 season events co-presented with Books & Books and Miami Book Fair will be announced at a later date.
Tickets to AN EVENING WITH TA-NEHISI COATES are available now at $40* and include a copy of his book, The Water Dancer. Tickets to AN EVENING WITH PATTI SMITH are $37* and include a copy of her book, Year of the Monkey. Tickets will be available to Arsht Center Culturist Members on September 25 at noon and to the general public on September 30 at noon. All tickets may be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center Box Office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at arshtcenter.org.
BRINGAFRIEND to save! For every full-priced ticket purchased, guests can get a second ticket for only $10* by using the code BRINGAFRIEND for either literary event. Each full-priced ticket includes admission to the event and a copy of The Water Dancer or Year of the Monkey. *Fees apply. Not valid on previously purchased tickets. $10 tickets do not include a copy of the books.
ABOUT PATTI SMITH AND YEAR OF THE MONKEY
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, and illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.
Patti Smith is the author of Just Kids, which won the National Book Award in 2010, and of M Train, as well as numerous collections of poetry and essays. 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; she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. For more information, please visit https://www.pattismith.net/intro.html.