Knopf to Publish Sam Shepard's Final Work
Spy of the First Person, the final work by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actor, and author Sam Shepard completed shortly before his death earlier this year, will be published by Knopf on December 5.
Shepard died on July 27, 2017 after battling ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. He began writing Spy of the First Person in 2016 despite physical limitations via handwritten drafts, a typewriter, and later, a tape recorder, and the with help of his family as well as his friend Patti Smith. The novel follows an unnamed narrator who retraces his life while receiving treatment for a medical condition that leaves him reliant on his loved ones who are caring for him.
“Vivid, haunting, and deeply moving, it is an unflinching expression of the vulnerabilities that make us human, and an unbound celebration of family and life," said LuAnn Walther, senior v-p and editorial director at Vintage and Shepard’s longtime editor, in a statement about the book.
