Patti Smith

Patti Smith was born in Chicago, raised in South Jersey, and moved to New York City in 1967. Her extensive achievements as a performer, an author, and a recording and visual artist are acknowledged worldwide.

Smith won the prestigious 2010 National Book Award for her bestselling memoir Just Kids, which chronicles her deep friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the evolution of their work. Her books of nonfiction and poetry include Witt (1973), Babel (1978), Woolgathering (1992), Auguries of Innocence (2005), The Coral Sea (2012), Collected Lyrics, 1970–2015 (2015), M Train (2015), Devotion (2017), and Year of the Monkey (2019). A Book of Days, featuring 365 images and reflections, will be published in November 2022.

In 2020, Smith received the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, and The Wall Street Journal acknowledged her as a Literature Innovator. In May 2022, she was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Columbia University and the distinction of being named Officier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur by the French ambassador to the United States, Philippe Étienne, on May 21, 2022. Smith is a recipient of the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.

Released in 1975, Smith’s first recording, Horses, was inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in 2009 by the National Recording Preservation Board. Her subsequent albums include Radio Ethiopia; Easter, which included “Because the Night,” cowritten with Bruce Springsteen; Wave; Dream of Life, which included “People Have the Power,” cowritten with her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith; Gone Again; Peace and Noise; Gung Ho; Trampin’; Land; Twelve; Banga; and Outside Society. She is a four-time Grammy nominee and a Golden Globe nominee for the song “Mercy Is,” cowritten with Lenny Kaye for the film Noah. Steven Sebring’s 2008 documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life, earned an Emmy nomination. Smith’s renowned band includes guitarist and author Lenny Kaye, with whom she has collaborated since 1971; drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, a member since 1975; Tony Shanahan on bass and keyboards since 1996; and her son, guitarist Jackson Smith, for more than a decade. 

Smith holds the honor of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture. In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was honored by ASCAP with the Founders Award in 2010, representing lifetime achievement, and was the recipient of Sweden’s 2011 Polar Award, an international acknowledgement for significant achievements in music. In 2013, Smith received the Katharine Hepburn Medal from Bryn Mawr College, recognizing women whose contributions embody the drive and work ethic of the celebrated actress. In 2014, the Barnard College Board of Trustees presented Smith with its Medal of Distinction. In 2016, she was awarded the Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Trinity College, Dublin. 

Smith’s photographs, drawings, and installations have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Coupled with her photography exhibit Higher Learning, Smith received an honorary degree from the University of Parma, Italy, and an honorary doctorate in Euro-American Literature from Padova University. She was awarded the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art in 2019.

Presently, Smith writes, performs, and lends support for human-rights issues and environmental groups, primarily Pathway to Paris, a nonprofit organization cofounded by her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, that offers tangible solutions for combating global climate shift. She resides in New York City. She is a featured writer on Substack, where her writings and readings can be subscribed to online.