Patti Smith

Wed., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., $6 (simulcast only), Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.

by M.J. Fine

[ reading/signing ]

Like many young bohemians in 1969, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe had come to New York City to find their artistic calling. She had a talent for drawing, he for making jewelry, but in each other they found the encouragement to dream bigger, dig deeper, work harder. Though they would gain notoriety in separate spheres, their fates are forever entwined — even Mapplethorpe's 1989 death couldn't kill their collaboration. Before he became the right-wing's whipping boy for his sleek S&M portraits, Mapplethorpe's stunning photo of Smith drew people to her debut album, Horses; since becoming the rock 'n' roll hero she longed for, she's mined their 20-year friendship for poetry, with 1996's The Coral Sea, and memoir, with Just Kids, which won the National Book Award in November. Now she brings their stories to the city where she first fell in love with art and literature. Expect something special.

Wed., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., $6 (simulcast only), Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.