Musicians have often drawn inspiration from literary works in their songwriting. But there have also been many famous musicians who have branched out and published books of their own fiction, poetry, plays, and more. John Lennon wrote In His Own Write. Bob Dylan wrote Chronicles. Keith Richards wrote Life. Michael Nesmith wrote The Long, Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora. Kim Gordon wrote Girl in a Band. Questlove wrote Mo Meta Blues. And the list goes on. Below we take a look at five of the most prolific musician/authors.
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1. Patti Smith
The multi-talented Patti Smith has been dubbed the “punk poet laureate,” publishing poetry and memoirs throughout her highly influential career. In 1972, Smith released a steady stream of books with lyrics and poetry. In 2010, she released her first memoir, Just Kids, which recounted her time in New York City in the ’70s. Smith had promised friend and famed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe that she would write the book as he was on his deathbed.
Just Kids was a New York Times bestseller and was awarded the National Book Award for Nonfiction. In 2015, she released her second memoir, M Train, covering the death of Mapplethorpe, her husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith (best-known as the guitarist for MC5), and her brother Todd. The book was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. More poetry books followed, and then her third memoir, Year of the Monkey, was published. It covered the events of 2016. In 2022, A Book of Days came out, which was a collection of more than 365 photographs with captions for every day of the year.
2. Nick Cave
As frontman for The Birthday Party and later, the Bad Seeds, Nick Cave has released albums, acted in movies, and written poetry, plays, books, and screenplays. His first book, King Ink, came out in 1988 and was a collection of lyrics, poetry, and plays. King Ink II followed in 1997.
His southern gothic debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, was published in 1989. Cave then co-wrote an adult comic book with Lydia Lunch titled AS-FIX-E-8, and then wrote his second novel for release in 2009, The Death of Bunny Munro, about a door-to-door beauty salesman. The Sick Bag Song chronicled the Bad Seeds tour of 2014. His most recent book, Faith, Hope, and Carnage (2022), was inspired by a series of phone calls between Cave and journalist Sean O’Hagan during the pandemic.
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3. Henry Rollins
Singer, comedian, spoken word artist, actor, writer, and “punk” all describe Henry Rollins of Black Flag fame. One of his earliest books, Pissing in the Gene Pool, was a collection of stories and anecdotes published in 1987. In the following years, Rollins released the nonfiction titles Art to Choke Hearts, Bang!, High Adventures in the Great Outdoors, and One from None. Black Coffee Blues, a collection of short stories, became a series.
Rollins’ memoir, Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag, was a success, and the recorded version won a Grammy in 1995 for Best Spoken Word Album. Solipsist; See a Grown Man Cry, Now Watch Him Die; Eye Scream; Broken Summers; Smile, You’re Traveling; and Roomanitarian are just some of the other books Rollins has published. Starting in 2008, he also contributed regularly to the “Politics and Power” vertical on the online version of Vanity Fair magazine.
4. Leonard Cohen
Starting as a writer/poet, Cohen was known throughout his career for his masterful songwriting—his most significant success being with “Hallelujah.” The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer first published a book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, in 1956. The Spice Box of Earth followed in 1961. His first novel, The Favorite Game, which tells the story of a young man’s life in Montreal, was published in 1963. Two volumes of poetry and lyrics, Flowers for Hitler and Parasites of Heaven, followed.
In 1966, Cohen published his second and last novel, Beautiful Losers, an experimental historical fiction novel that centers around a love triangle. From 1978 through 2012, he published Death of a Lady’s Man, Book of Mercy, Stranger Music, Book of Longing, Poems and Songs, and Fifteen Poems. A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories was published posthumously in 2022.
5. Jimmy Buffett
The “Margaritaville” singer/songwriter’s books included everything from children’s books to memoirs. In 1988, he wrote the children’s book The Jolly Mon. In 1989, he published a collection of short stories called Tales from Margaritaville. Another children’s book, Trouble Dolls, followed in 1992.
His first novel, Where Is Joe Merchant?, spent more than seven months on the New York Times bestseller fiction list. The memoir A Pirate Looks at Fifty was published in 1998 and went straight to No. 1 on the Times‘ bestselling nonfiction list, making him one of the rare authors to reach No. 1 on both the fiction and nonfiction lists. In 2004, A Salty Piece of Land was published, followed by Swine Not? in 2008.
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