Musician Patti Smith Wins Book Award for Mapplethorpe Memoir
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Patti Smith, best known as a rock musician, won the National Book Award for nonfiction last night for “Just Kids,” a memoir of her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe published by Ecco Press.
“When I was a clerk at Scribner’s bookstore, I always dreamed of writing a book of my own,” she said. “When I had to unpack the winners of the National Book Awards and put them on the shelf, I used to wonder what it would feel like to win one.