An Evening with Patti Smith

Steven Sebring

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SAL Presents

An Evening with Patti Smith

Sunday, November 9, 2025 7:30 pm PST

11/09/2025 7:30 pm 11/09/2025 America/Los_Angeles An Evening with Patti Smith https://lectures.org/event/patti-smith/ Meany Hall — Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater add to calendar icon

At Meany Hall — Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater

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In Person & Online

Cost: $7 - $124

A radiant new memoir from beloved artist and writer Patti Smith, author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids.

Tickets with “& Book” include a copy of Bread of Angels, shipped to your door by our bookstore partner Elliott Bay Book Company.

God whispers through a crease in the wallpaper, writes Patti Smith in this indelible account of her life as an artist. A post–World War II childhood unfolds in a condemned housing complex described in Dickensian detail: consumptive children, vanishing neighbors, an infested rat house, and a beguiling book of Irish fairy tales. We enter the child’s world of the imagination where Smith, the captain of her loyal and beloved sibling army, vanquishes bullies, communes with the king of tortoises, and searches for sacred silver pennies.

The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs, Bread of Angels, takes us through her teenage years when the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative heroes and role models as Smith starts to write poetry, then lyrics, merging both into the iconic recordings and songs such as Horses/Easter, “Dancing Barefoot” and “Because the Night.”

She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred “Sonic” Smith, with whom she creates a life of devotion and adventure on a canal in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, with ancient willows and fulsome pear trees. She builds a room of her own, furnished with a pillow of Moroccan silk, a Persian cup, inkwell and fountain pen. The couple spend nights in their landlocked Chris-Craft studying nautical maps and charting new adventures as they start their family.

As Smith suffers profound losses, grief and gratitude are braided through years of caring for her children, rebuilding her life, and, finally, writing again—the one constant on a path driven by artistic freedom and the power of the imagination to transform the mundane into the beautiful, the commonplace into the magical, and pain into hope. In the final pages, we meet Patti Smith on the road again, the vagabond who travels to commune with herself, who lives to write and writes to live.

Patti Smith is the author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids, as well as WoolgatheringM Train, Year of the Monkey, and Collected Lyrics. Her seminal album Horses has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. Her global exhibitions include Strange Messenger, Land 250, Camera Solo, and Evidence. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith is also the recipient of the ASCAP Founders Award, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, and the Legion d’honneur.

Event Details

Meany Hall — Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater

Know Before You Go

Can't find your tickets?

Most tickets have been emailed for this event, so be sure to check your inbox for an email from boxoffice@lectures.org. Email or call us at 206-621-2230 x10 if you can’t find them.

For in-person attendance: Your e-tickets have been emailed unless you selected “Will Call” as your ticket delivery upon checkout. Will Call tickets will be available to pick up at the SAL Box Office starting at 6 p.m. the night of your event.

For online attendance: If you purchased a streaming ticket, SAL will send a pre-event reminder email with instructions to log in and access the online stream on the day of the event. The night of your event, return to this page and enter the password where prompted. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. (PT) and will be available for viewing for a week after the event. If you have opted out of receiving SAL emails, you will miss this important information—please email us at boxoffice@lectures.org and we will assist you.

Seating in the Hall

For the in-person event, the lobby doors and SAL Box Office open at 6 p.m. (PT). The auditorium doors will open at approximately 6:30 p.m. (PT) for seating.

All seating is General Admission by section with the exception of Grand Patron seats, which are reserved.

Late seating is permitted at SAL events. However, your seat is not guaranteed after the program has begun.

Have a question for the speaker?

Want to ask our speaker something? We invite you to submit questions for our Q&A. Check your pre-event email for a link!

Books

Tickets with “& Book” include a copy of Bread of Angels, shipped to your door by our bookstore partner Elliott Bay Book Company. Books will be shipped after publication date (November 4, 2025).

There is no book-signing at this event.

Our bookstore partner, Elliott Bay Book Company, will have additional books available for sale at their table in the lobby and on their website.

Patrons & Grand Patrons, Have a Drink on SAL!

Patron & Grand Patron seating includes a pre-event drink ticket! Check your pre-event email for details.

Need an exchange?

Please note: in-person tickets do not include streaming access. (Curious to learn why? Check out our FAQ.) If you need to exchange your in-person ticket for a streaming ticket, SAL kindly asks that you please contact the box office before noon on the day of your event.

Tickets and subscriptions are non-refundable.

Transportation & Parking

Meany Hall is located on the west edge of the University of Washington campus, just minutes from the NE 45th Street exit off I-5.

It’s easy to get to the University of Washington by bus or train. More than 60 bus routes serve the University District, including many that drive onto the campus itself.

Plan your route:

From I-5:

Exit at NE 45th Street heading east and proceed to 15th Avenue NE. Turn right at 15th Avenue NE and proceed to NE 41st Street. Turn left into the UW Central Plaza Parking Garage. Once inside the parking garage, look for white and purple signs directing you to Meany Theater. Take the elevator to the main lobby of the theater. Please note that a special event parking fee may be charged for evening events.

From 520:

Exit north onto Montlake Boulevard NE. Turn left onto NE Pacific Street. Turn right at 15th Avenue NE and proceed to NE 41st St. Turn right into the UW Central Plaza Parking Garage. Once inside the parking garage, look for white and purple signs directing you to Meany Theater. Take the elevator to the main lobby of the theater.

Parking:

Limited, underground parking is available in the Central Plaza Garage located underneath Meany Hall. Other UW paid parking is available around campus. Above-ground parking is also available. Enter campus at the north entrance (NE 45th Street and 17th Avenue NE). Stop at the gatehouse and ask the attendant for additional information. Please note that a special event parking fee may be charged for evening events.

Accessibility

Open Captioning is an option for people who have hearing losses, where a captioning screen displaying the words that are spoken or sung is placed on stage. To make a request for open captioning, please contact us at boxoffice@lectures.org or 206.621.2230 x10.

Closed Captioning is an option for people who have hearing loss, where captioning displays the words that are spoken or sung at the bottom of the video for online events. Captioning is available for all online events; click the “CC” button to view captions during the event.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are devices that people with hearing loss use in conjunction with their hearing device (hearing aids or cochlear implants). Infrared assistive listening systems are installed in the Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater and headsets may be used at any seat. Headsets with induction neckloops are available for patrons who use hearing aids and cochlear implants with a “T” switch. Headsets may be obtained from an Audiences Services staff member. Photo ID deposit is required.

Sign Language Interpretation is available upon request for Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals. To make a request for interpretation, please contact us at boxoffice@lectures.org or 206.621.2230 x10, or select “Sign Language Interpretation” from the Access Requirements section during your ticket checkout process and we will contact you to confirm details. Please note: we appreciate a two-week advance notice to allow us time to secure interpretation.

Wheelchair Accessible Seating and Accessible Restrooms are available. The wheelchair accessible restrooms are located in the Lower Lobby level with an elevator nearby. There are no restrooms on the Main level and no accessible restrooms on the Balcony level. To reserve seating for a specific mobility concern, please contact us at boxoffice@lectures.org or 206.621.2230 x10, or select “Wheelchair accessible seat” during ticket checkout, and we will contact you to confirm details.

For more details on accessibility features at Meany Hall, click here.

Service animals, such as guide dogs, are permitted to assist Meany visitors. The nearest green space for the animal is on the west side of Meany.

We are pleased to offer these accessibility services at our venues, and they are provided at no additional cost to ticket holders. Please contact us with any questions and feedback about how we can be more accessible and inclusive. Our Patron Services Manager is available at boxoffice@lectures.org, or Monday-Thursday from 12:00pm – 5:00pm and Friday from 11:00am – 1:00pm at 206.621.2230 x10.

For more accessibility information, please head to lectures.org/accessibility. If you would like to make accessibility arrangements you do not see listed here, please contact our box office or select “Other accessibility accommodations” from the Access Requirements section during your ticket checkout process, and we will contact you to confirm details.

Sponsors

Generous support provided by Magnum Opus Sponsor
Constance Wealth Advisors