Woolgathering

The National Book Award-winner Patti Smith updates her treasure box of a childhood memoir about "clear unspeakable joy" and "just the wish to know" with a radiant new afterword, written during the pandemic and reflecting on current times. This expanded paperback edition also includes new photographs by the author. A great book about becoming an artist, Woolgathering. tells of a child finding herself as she learns the noble vocation of woolgathering, "a worthy calling that seemed a good job for me. " She discovers-often at night, often in nature-the pleasures of rescuing "a fleeting thought. " Woolgathering. calls up our own memories, as the child "glimpses and gleans, piecing together a crazy quilt of truths. " Smith shares the fierce, vital pleasures of stargazing and wandering. Her new Afterword, penned during the quarantine, opens new horizons in "the scarcely charted landscape of memory governed by clouds. " Woolgathering. celebrates the sacred nature of creation in Smith's singular language, acclaimed as "glorious" (NPR), "spellbinding" (Booklist. ), "rare and ferocious" (Salon. ), and "shockingly beautiful" (New York Magazine. ).