Patti Smith woed critics 35 years ago with her debut album ‘Horses’. Her first book ‘Just Kids’ – a non-fiction work that chronicles her youth in 1960s New York – has done the same, as ‘Just Kids’ has won the National Book Award.
Smith – often referred as the godmother of punk – is a icon in the music industry, breaking ground as a woman in a traditionally man’s world. Smith is also a poet and political activist.
‘Just Kids’ is a look back at the earliest days of Smith’s art life. It delves into her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who died of AIDS complications in 1989. It ends were her on the brink of stardom – which would come with the hit song ‘Because the Night’.