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One Book, One New York
New Yorkers have voted!
The one book you chose to read together is
JUST KIDS BY PATTI SMITH!
Join us for a special culminating event with the author
on September 20th at the Center For Fiction.
The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, along with our partners at BuzzFeed, are excited to announce that Just Kids by Patti Smith has been chosen as this year's One Book, One New York winner!
In the award-winning Just Kids, Smith offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and a portrait of two young artists ascent to fame, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality to Just Kids as she has to the rest of her formidable body of work, from her influential 1975 album Horses to her visual art and poetry.
Just Kids serves as a salute to New York City during a pivotal time in its long history. It is a true fable and a portrait of two young artists' ascent on their path to fame.
"When Robert Mapplethorpe and I stepped from Brooklyn to Manhattan, a half century ago, we were empty-handed yet possessed a vision of how we wished to evolve as artists and human beings," said Patti Smith. "New York was the city that welcomed and formed us, was emblematic of our struggles and successes. It is moving to imagine that our story will represent, through One Book, One New York, the countless stories of those who come to our diverse and complex city, with dreams of their own. Robert would be as happy as I am to achieve this recognition, especially grateful that the book has been chosen by the same readers for whom it was written."
Published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, Just Kids is a New York Times bestseller and the winner of numerous accolades including the National Book Award for Nonfiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (Autobiography/ Memoir), Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Best Books, ALA Notable Book, Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, and People magazine's Top Ten books of 2010.
To celebrate being chosen as this year's One Book winning author, Smith appeared at Symphony Space, as part of the PEN America World Voices Festival on May 10th and was introduced by last year's One Book winning author, Jennifer Egan. (Photos below - Credit: Antoine Braxton)
Just Kids was also the centerpiece of the BuzzFeed Book Club in July as book lovers across the country joined New Yorkers in reading and discussing the book together online.
A special One Book, One New York culminating event with Patti Smith will be held at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn on September 20th at 7PM. And follow the conversation online at #OneBookNY.
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