Patti Smith

The US punk-poet icon Patti Smith was bestowed with the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honor, at a ceremony in central Brooklyn.

“The only way it can be solved is a global effort, and I think more than anything... “Seeing that you are nothing you desire to become,” Smith read. of receiving such an honor.” Speaking to AFP, she said that while “artists can always inspire people, they can rally people, give people hope... “That I would be chosen to, you know, be a sort of a mini-ambassador for the country is really a great joy for me,” she said. Citing the ongoing pandemic and the “pain of war,” Smith said “we are living in a very troubled world,” underscoring climate change as the great crisis of our time. “At night, when Robert couldn’t sleep, he would ask me to read him French poetry... Smith is set in the fall to release a new book entitled “A Book Of Days,” a visual collection inspired by her beloved Instagram account. “Through voting, through initiative, through mass marches - it’s the people that make change.” “In desiring to become, you begin to live.” “It’s also fitting that it should be a library, because coming from a very rural area of South Jersey, with very little culture in the ’50s and mid-’60s, I depended on the library to open and expand my world,” she said. “I feel like it’s very fitting to have such an accolade here in Brooklyn - it’s only a couple of subway stops away that Robert Mapplethorpe and I lived at 20-years-old,” she told the audience.