Woolgathering

An ode to childhood and to woolgathering as the wellspring for a creative lifenow in an expanded paperback edition The National Book Awardwinner 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 discoversoften at night, often in naturethe 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 Smiths singular language, acclaimed as glorious (NPR), spellbinding (Booklist), rare and ferocious (Salon), and shockingly beautiful (New York Magazine).