Patti Smith Wins National Book Award For Memoir Of Life With Robert Mapplethorpe

Punk legend Patti Smith has won the National Book Award for Just Kids, her "sweetly evocative" memoir of her life with the late legendary gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Accepting the award to applause and cheers, Ms. Smith — clearly the favorite of the night — choked up as she recalled her days as a clerk in the Scribner’s bookstore in Manhattan. “I dreamed of having a book of my own, of writing one that I could put on a shelf,” she said. “Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book.” “Just Kids” was published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Here's Smith speaking about the book at the New York Public Library earlier this year.