Joni Mitchell takes U.S. citizenship and announces paintings book NEWS

Joni Mitchell has become a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, 62 years after she began living in the United States.

The singer-songwriter said she took U.S. citizenship so she could vote. She wants to vote.

Mitchell described herself as “a proud Canerican like Neil Young,” a reference to her fellow Canadian songwriter. Young became a U.S. citizen in 2020, according to Rolling Stone.

She announced the citizenship in a social media post on Tuesday. The post was reported this week by outlets including The New York Times.

The citizenship news arrived alongside details of a new art book. Mitchell will release NEWS, a collection of 23 paintings about the 24-hour news cycle, on Nov. 4, three days before her 83rd birthday.

Mitchell conceived, executed and designed the book herself. It brings together song lyrics, imagery and slogans drawn from her paintings.

She said she had retired from music to pursue painting. The book is presented as a painter’s project, not a music release.

NEWS will be available in a standard edition and in 500 hand-numbered and signed editions. Both will be sold through Mitchell’s website and Julien’s Publishing, with preorders beginning Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. ET.

Julien’s will also hold an auction titled NEWS: Numbered, Signed & Personalized. It offers book numbers one through 10, with bidding open from Oct. 15 through Oct. 29.

Proceeds from that auction will benefit four nonprofit organisations: the ACLU, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Save the Children and the ASPCA. The groups cover civil liberties, children’s health and welfare, and animal welfare.

The paintings from the book will go on public display in California. The show is organised at the L.A. Louver gallery in Venice on Oct. 29 and 30.

For readers coming to this fresh, the two announcements sit side by side. One settles Mitchell’s citizenship after a lifetime working in the U.S., and the other puts her painting practice in print.