Bruce Springsteen has described his autobiography, Born to Run, as a story of “poetry, danger, and darkness.” The book will be released internationally on September 27, shortly after his 67th birthday.
Publishers Simon & Schuster revelaed in February that Springsteen spent seven years writing the autobiography. He commenced the story in 2009 following his performance with the E Street Band at the Super Bowl’s half-time show.
Springsteen's story evokes his boyhood in Freehold, New Jersey and recounts “his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band”.
“Writing about yourself is a funny business,” Springsteen declared. “But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.”
Simon & Schuster will publish Born to Run in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and India. The publishing firm also brought out Springsteen’s illustrated book Outlaw Pete in 2014.
“If you were to ask any publisher to name a cultural figure whose autobiography would provoke the greatest enthusiasm, Bruce Springsteen’s name would be on every list,” declared Ian Chapman, CEO of Simon & Schuster UK when the memoir was announced earlier this year. “Beyond being one of the most admired individuals in the world, he is a captivating storyteller with a unique way of expressing himself.”
Born to Run will also be published in Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain.
In a 2014 interview with The New York Times, Springsteen numbered the American fiction writers Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth and Richard Ford among his favourite authors.
“I love the way Richard Ford writes about New Jersey,” the musician said. “The Sportswriter, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land are all set on my stomping grounds and, besides being poignant and hilarious, nail the Jersey Shore perfectly.”
