Just Kids

This is Patti Smith's evocative and moving coming-of-age story of her extraordinary relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. 

In each other, the pair found kindred spirits and pursued their mutual dreams, from Brooklyn to the Chelsea Hotel and into the world. Each would eventually reach the pinnacle of artistic achievement and their vow to always care for one another survived painful trials and separations.  

Intimate and broadly evocative of New York in the early '70s, and also featuring recollections of friendships with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, the heart of this tender and tough memoir, however, is Smith's deep love for Mapplethorpe and her abiding belief in his genius.  

This elegantly written and poetic  eulogy helps to explain the chaos and the creativity so embedded in that earlier time and in Mapplethorpe's life and work. Winner of the 2011 US National Book Award for Biography.