Just Kids Audiobook By Patti Smith cover art

Just Kids

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends January 21, 2026 11:59pm PT
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible Premium Plus.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Just Kids

By: Patti Smith
Narrated by: Patti Smith
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends January 21, 2026 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.29

Buy for $24.29

LIMITED TIME OFFER | Get 3 months for $0.99 a month

$14.95/mo thereafter-terms apply.

In Just Kids, Patti Smith’s first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, 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.

 Art Audible Essentials Biographies & Memoirs Celebrity Memoir Essentials Entertainment & Celebrities National Book Award Women Celebrity Romance Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Inspiring

Featured Article: The Audible Essentials Top 100


The spirited (but friendly) debate over these titles could have gone on indefinitely. With years of listening, countless customer reviews, and a catalog of seemingly infinite great listens, 100 suddenly felt like a very small number. What we know for sure—each title that made it to this collection is elevated and made special in some way by audio, whether by a layered performance from a single narrator, a brilliantly cohesive full cast, original music, or immersive sound effects. Discover an audio experience for the ages.

Featured Article The Audible Essentials Top 100
Poetic Writing • Authentic Portrayal • Deep Connection • Emotional Depth • Artistic Journey • Historical Documentation

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
An astounding tribute to Smith, Mapplethorpe, their astonishing life journey and their work. I lived it, loved it, now I had the chance to read about it. And I'll do so again.

Beautiful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I couldn't decide whether to buy the book or listen to the audio version. When I saw Patti Smith read her book, herself, I opted for the Audible edition. I'm very glad I did. This is a powerful and inspiring work. Smith puts a lot of emotion into her reading, which would come as no surprise to anyone interested to read the book in the first place. Patti Smith brings the same intensity to her reading and writing as she does to her music and poetry.

Any artist who believes they are held back by family connections, wealth or education, should read this book even if you've never heard of Patti Smith or Robert Mapplethorpe. Not everything they had to do to survive in 1970s New York was pretty, but they did it with style and courage, and they achieved what they planned to achieve. This book is a candid and beautiful memoir.

Smith's reading adds another dimension

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Just the other day we watched Patti Smith perform Requiem at her return to Horses show. She ended with a long list of lost heroes. It was Bowie’s 69th Birthday that night. He was not on her list. As I ran through the pre-dawn this morning, a huge eaglish head over Father Hill, Venus winking out brightly as I turned, I gave Bowie that Love planet, and added him silently to her list.

Re-listening to this book quite simply broke my heart again. Just as it built me anew, as any good Bildungsroman will do, it cleaved in me that which is most profound: the art egg that is, Phoenix-like, forever waiting to be laid and broken open, over and over at the behest of what is best in us. The maker smithies herself, the metal gets harder, sharper with each burning. These words, formed in stories and told as pristine history in her masterly truck driver mouthed voice; this is the clarion call I'm so happy to return to, particularly in this time of trenchant mortality in the art-meets-rock world.

Thank you, Patti Smith. As you said of your guitar, this book too, "Is the only weapon you'll ever need."

Finished this the day that Bowie died.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the best audiobook I've ever listened to and one of the most beautiful stories of friendship I've had the pleasure of enjoying. Inspiring, sweet and breathtaking. Thank you Patti and Robert for sharing your story with the world.

The most beautiful story of friendship

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Incredible voice. Lovely story of living without judgement. Being born in 1966 - I enjoyed the new insights to all those things that were interesting to me as a teenager ... Like Woodstock, Bob Dylan, Punk Rock, Mixed Media Art ... And New York City.

Great insights into a period of history which created a lot of change

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews