She's a legend and an icon and she doesn't come to the UK too often, but Patti Smith, the New Yorker called the 'Godmother Of Punk', is playing just a few dates this year (subject to further announcements of course) kicking off with a date at The Union Chapel, Islington on March 21st, Oxford's Holywell Music Room on the 22nd, a new gig announced for The Millennium Gallery, Sheffield on the 23rd, the eclectic Oran Mor venue in Glasgow on the 24th, the Gateshead Sage on the 25th and the Leamington Spa Assembly on the 26th.

Tickets for the Sheffield date are £20 while the remaining dates vary from £23 upwards.

The evenings are being billed as 'a night of words and music with Patti and Tony Shanahan (her bassist)' and will feature excerpts from her upcoming book about photographer and close friend, Robert Mapplethorpe. They shared a place together in New York City during the 70s and Mapplethorpe ended up taking the iconic photograph that adorns her classic album, 'Horses'. Released in 1975 and produced by John Cale, it featured several anthems hailed as the beginning of the attitude of Punk including 'Gloria' and 'Free Money'. It was her 3rd album, 'Easter' that spawned a global hit with 'Because The Night' (written with Bruce Springsteen) in 1978.

Latterly she has concentrated on her friendship with Mapplethorpe and in 2008 recorded a pair of live recordings, called 'The Coral Sea', derived from South Bank 'live' appearances with Kevin Shields (MBV) on occasional guitars. In 2010, her autobiography, 'Just Kids', was published to critical acclaim. Proof that she can still hold an audience, be it a listening or a reading one. On these dates you can be both. Tickets are limited.