Kate Bush, the British singer-songwriter known for her literary bent and baroque rock sound, will release a book of her collected lyrics.

The Guardian reports that the book, “How to Be Invisible,” will be published in December in Britain by Faber and Faber. It will feature an introduction by David Mitchell, the acclaimed novelist and author of “Cloud Atlas” and “Black Swan Green.”

Bush’s musical career began with “The Kick Inside,” an album released when she was just 19. The record spawned the international “Wuthering Heights,” based on the novel by Emily Brontë, with whom she shares a birthday.

Her other hits include “Breathing,” “Babooshka” and “Running Up That Hill.” For more than a decade, she dropped out of the public eye, and her return was applauded by devoted fans. Faber and Faber has not confirmed which songs will be included in her upcoming book.


Mitchell is a longtime fan of Bush. He wrote about her for the Guardian in 2010, praising her music and lyrics.

“Kate Bush transforms me into a deranged fan,” Mitchell wrote. “I don’t know where to begin to explain it: there’s her Brontëesque precocity (how does a 13-year-old compose “The Man With the Child In His Eyes”?); her voice, or rather voices (swan-necked soprano, bass-deadpan, banshee wail, pure as snowmelt); or her firsts (first British solo woman to write and sing a No 1 single, to top the album charts and to enter the album charts at No 1).”

Her most recent studio album, “50 Words for Snow,” was released in 2011. Margaret Wappler reviewed the album for The Times, writing: “It might be cold in Bush’s world, but it’s far from frozen. It’s the vanishing world illuminated by a furnace-blast of life.”

Mitchell called Bush “a creator of musical companions that travel with you through life.”


“One paradox about her is that while her lyrics are avowedly idiosyncratic, those same lyrics evoke emotions and sensations that feel universal,” he added.

An American release date for the book has not been announced.