Patti Smith's photography and Kevin Nealon's caricatures offer a new perspective

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2022

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Patti Smith and Kevin Nealon are both stars for very different reasons; one is a punk legend, the other a standup comedian and SNL alum. But they have something important in common – they both find inspiration in creating visual projects. In today's episode, NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Smith about her new photography collection, A Book of Days, and what she describes as the "sacred atmosphere of the polaroid." Then, Here & Now's Celeste Headlee sits down with Nealon to discuss his book of celebrity caricatures, I Exaggerate, and what it takes to perfectly capture a beloved character.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I just want to take a second before we get to the show today to say that every day we bring you conversations from across the NPR network. We've got a whole squad of hosts and producers with their own tastes and interests, helping us bring you your next read. And NPR's journalism
0:22.6	relies on your support to keep it free for everybody. So please consider a donation to help,
0:28.3	not just us at the Book of the Day podcast, but the NPR network as a whole at donate.npr.npr.org
0:35.4	slash books. You know, books are such an integral part of our lives.
0:39.2	From that first book, our parents read to us to that one book we read when we were
0:43.9	13 that really warped our mind, to the book that, okay, you know, maybe we read the spark
0:49.1	notes for in high school, but came back to as an adult and realized it was pretty good.
0:55.0	Come on, that's not just me, right? Anyway, we do this podcast every day to get you thinking about an interview or a topic
1:01.4	or maybe get your own creative juices stewing by hearing from a wide swath of writers.
1:06.7	Help us keep doing it for another year at npr.org slash books. Thank you so much. Okay, let's get to
1:13.5	today's got two art books from people famous for very different reasons. In a bit, we'll hear
1:21.1	from comedian and actor Kevin Neillan. You might know him from SNL or weeds. I don't know this,
1:27.0	but he's actually a longtime
1:28.1	illustrator and he's got a new book out. But first, the epitome of New York cool,
1:32.9	Patty Smith is on the pod today. She's got a new book of photography titled A Book of Days.
1:37.9	And it's a collection of pictures she's taken throughout her life. And it's intricately and
1:42.8	carefully curated, you know, not just a jumble of
1:45.8	random images. And this interview she did with NPR's Juana Summers is such an interesting
1:51.1	walk-down Smith's own memory lane and a reminder of how powerfully photos can conjure up certain
1:56.6	memories or feelings and help keep some things close to you that you don't want to forget.
2:02.2	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky
2:08.4	conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on
	...

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