Patti Smith is returning to her native Chicago this fall - but not for a concert.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is accepting this year’s Harold Washington Literary Award.
Smith has always been known for her writing - her poetic lyrics floated over punchy guitar riffs in the early New York punk scene in the '70's.
Anne K. Ream is co-chair of the selection committee and nominated Smith for the award named after the late mayor.
“She has a great loyalty to this city and I think we have not necessarily given her her due as a writer.”
Smith will follow the likes of Gwendolyn Brooks, Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut in receiving the award from the Near South Planning Board that’s been given out every year since 1989.
Ream says the honor is for Smith’s body of writing, which she says is marked by moral clarity, artistic rigor, and deep empathy.
In her 2025 memoir, Bread of Angels, Smith wrote how she was born near Logan Square during a huge blizzard in late December of 1946.
Sick with severe bronchial distress, she says her father held her sickly body over a steaming washtub for hours.
Organizers say Smith will be at the Union League Club on September 10th to pick up the award at a dinner a few days ahead of the 41st Printers Row Lit Fest.
