Just Kids - Patti Smith introduces new book at litCOLOGNE

"It was the summer that Coltrane died. The summer of Crystal Ship. Flower power kids raised their empty arms, and China exploded the H-bomb. Jimi Hendrix set his guitar in flames in Monterey. [...] This was the summer, I met Robert Mapplethorpe."
This is how the American artist Patti Smith describes her first encounter with the photographer.

Her book "Just Kids" deals with the history of her friendship with Mapplethorpe (who died 1989). On March 18, 2010, the German translation of the book has been published by German publishing house Kiepenheuer und Wietsch.

During the literature festival litCOLOGNE 2010, Smith personally introduced her book, reading the part on the creation of the cover photo on her first album ”Horses”. Mapplethorpe took the famous black-and-white shot of Patti Smith: "This picture sent us out to the world."

further links:

• Michel Houellebecq - Why are you creative?
• Man Dokis Aquarelle