🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Patti Smith
Patti was the oldest of four kids, and when she was four years old her family moved to Germantown, Philadelphia from Chicago. Later, they would move again to Pitman, New Jersey and again to The Woodbury Gardens part of Deptford Township, New Jersey. Smith was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and had a Bible education and a strong religious upbringing. When she was a teen, she left organized religion because it was too confining for her. Now that she is an adult, she feels that all religious dogmas are laws made by man that you can either choose to abide by or not. From this early time, she was exposed to her early records. This includes Harry Belafonte’s “Shrimp Boats”, “Another Side of Bob Dylan”, and Patience and Prudence’s “The Money Tree”, which she got from her mother.
All Book Series by Patti Smith
A Season in Hell & The Drunken Boat
Book 8 of 9 · published 2011 Co-authored · Arthur Rimbaud
Patti Smith Collected Lyrics, 1970-2015
Latest in the series · book 9 of 9 · published 2015
Patti Smith Complete Lyrics, Reflections & Notes for the Future
Book 2 of 10 · published 1998
David Lynch: Someone is in My House
Book 7 of 10 · published 2019 Co-authored · David Lynch,Stijn Huijts,Kristine McKenna,Petra Giloy-Hirtz
Bread of Angels: A Memoir
Latest in the series · book 10 of 10 · published 2025
What Nails It
Latest in the series · book 5 of 5 · published 2024 Anthology · Greil Marcus
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Patti Smith?
Patti was the oldest of four kids, and when she was four years old her family moved to Germantown, Philadelphia from Chicago. Later, they would move again to Pitman, New Jersey and again to The Woodbury Gardens part of Deptford Township, New Jersey. Smith was raised a Jehovah's Witness and had a Bible education and a strong religious upbringing.
Which Patti Smith series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Why I Write series, the earliest of Patti Smith's multi-book series: it opens with Devotion (2017) and runs to 5 books across 2017–2024, ending with What Nails It (2024).
How many books has Patti Smith written?
Patti Smith has 27 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1972 and 2025. 5 of them belong to 1 named series — the largest being the Why I Write series with 5 books — and 22 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Patti Smith's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Patti Smith's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Why I Write (2017–2024, 5 books).
How are Patti Smith's books organised into series?
This guide splits Patti Smith's 27 books into 1 named series and 22 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Why I Write (5 books, 2017–2024).