By Giulia Piceni. Cover images Feltrinelli Patti Smith Just Kids cover book artwork.
Before Patti Smith became the High Priestess of punk rock, she was just a girl with a second-hand suitcase, a stack of Rimbaud poems, and no return ticket. In the summer of 1967, she arrived in New York City with nothing but intuition, hope, and a waitress uniform that her mother had given her.
In the non-fictional and autobiographical memoir Just Kids, Smith recounts her early years with Robert Mapplethorpe—not as the icons they would eventually become, but as two unknowns seeking beauty and a sense of belonging in a world that felt both indifferent and exciting. What began as a pact for survival between two kids evolved into a lifelong exchange of creative energy, ultimately becoming a legendary story of artistic growth.
Patti Smith Just Kids is not a manual on how to “make it,” nor is it a nostalgic indulgence. It’s a raw and luminous chronicle of the journey of becoming, of finding your voice before the world recognises it, and of committing to your craft before without knowing where it might lead. It’s about heartbreak and hunger, bookstores and nightclubs, borrowed cameras and sacred sketchbooks. For young creatives today navigating the noise of hypervisibility, digital pressure, and the demand for constant output, Smith’s memoir serves as a quiet yet powerful antidote. It reminds us that all great things start with uncertainty, and that living as an artist means being radically open—to change, to love, to loss, and to the sublime mess of becoming your one’s truest self.
Patti Smith Just Kids Book Gives Voice to the Struggles of Finding Yourself…
Patti Smith arrives in New York in 1967 with a suitcase full of Rimbaud and a waitress uniform. In Just Kids, she recalls sleeping in parks, hiding in phone booths overnight, and surviving on day-old bread and stolen milk. These pages don’t glamorise the artist’s life; instead, they reveal its true cost. At this point, Patti doesn’t know who she is, but she keeps walking the streets, sketching, scribbling poems, and following her instinct. This vulnerability—living without a clear plan and trusting your calling even when you don’t fully understand it—resonates with every young creative trying to find meaning amidst chaos.
…But It’s Also a Book to Find Your Artistic Voice
Mapplethorpe’s transformation serves as the emotional core of the book. Patti describes how, at first, Robert didn’t even consider photography as a “serious” art form; he was more into drawing, collage, and religious iconography. But then something changed. At one point, he starts taking Polaroids, initially just to document his assemblages. Gradually, the camera becomes his eye, his tool, and ultimately his obsession. It’s Patti who buys him his first real camera, a 35mm Pentax. She writes: “He was a shy boy with an angelic face, and I was his audience.” That mutual observation and quiet encouragement fuels his creative vision. And that’s what Just Kids gives us: it reminds us that a creative identity often blooms in the presence of someone who recognises your potential before the world does.
Patti Smith Just Kids Book Shows Us that Creativity Requires Transformation
Patti and Robert start out as lovers, then become soulmates, and eventually evolve into something even deeper: artistic mirrors. Patti writes, “We promised we’d never leave one another again until we both knew we were ready to stand on our own.” Their story is not about holding each other back but about growing alongside each other, even when that means growing apart. Robert’s eventual acceptance of his sexuality, and Patti’s drift toward poetry, performance, and eventually music, feel organic and inevitable. Just Kids book teaches us that to be faithful to your craft, you must be willing to change and let go of the version of yourself that once felt safe.
Patti Smith Just Kids Proves that Networking is Key in this Artsy World
The networking depicted in Just Kids is beautifully unstrategic. Patti meets Sam Shepard while working on a play. She crashes at Janis Joplin’s hangouts and borrows a typewriter from Allen Ginsberg, who humorously mistakes her for a pretty boy. Robert and Patti live at the Chelsea Hotel, a crucible of artists, misfits, and ghosts. They encounter figures like Harry Smith, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and more. These interactions weren’t “connections” in the modern sense; they were conversations, accidents, and mutual recognitions. Patti writes, “The Chelsea was like a doll’s house in the Twilight Zone, with a hundred rooms, each a small universe.” In that dollhouse, they learn that community—strange, volatile, and unfiltered—is what truly lifts you up.
It’s Proof that Perseverance is What Really Brings You There
Patti writes, “In art and dream, you may proceed with abandon. In life, you must proceed with balance and stealth.” Achieving that balance is a challenging endeavour, though. By day, she works at Scribner’s Bookstore and performs poetry at night. She takes on various jobs, including as a bookstore clerk, art model, even working the checkout at Brentano’s. Robert, too, endures years of obscurity, navigating his own identity, coping with illness, and facing rejection. Just Kids doesn’t promise immediate success; it emphasises the importance of endurance. The book’s final pages, written after Robert’s death, are soaked in tenderness and grit. Patti never stops creating and believing in her art. This perseverance is especially important for young creatives to see: showing up for your art is an act of survival, and an expression of love.
Patti Smith: An Icon Returns to Italy in October 2025
And guess what? You’ll get the chance to see this iconic artist live once again. Patti Smith will return to Italy as part of her Horses 50th Anniversary World Tour. The legendary artist is set to perform a single Italian dateon October 10, 2025, at the ChorusLife Arena in Bergamo. The show promises to be unforgettable, with Patti performing the full Horses album alongside her longtime collaborators Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan, and her son Jackson Smith. This event will celebrate a groundbreaking debut that continues to resonates fifty years on, and a powerful reminder of why Patti Smith remains a voice of raw, fearless beauty.
