Content:

NPR Author Alison Fensterstock in Conversation with Jill Hopkins.

While women have made music throughout time and been sound innovators since the earliest musical recordings, for too long they have not received due credit for their artistry or influence. Now, a definitive anthology celebrates and shines a critical light on the vital role women have played in shaping popular music. HOW WOMEN MADE MUSIC: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music is inspired by NPR Music’s acclaimed series, “Turning the Tables,” which has been groundbreaking in recognizing and honoring female artists from Beyoncé to Odetta, Taylor Swift to Joan Baez, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton. This book offers an unparalleled window into the lives, struggles, and triumphs of the women who have defined musical eras.

For this book, NPR made available 50 years of comprehensive coverage and recognition of female artists in the music industry. With an introduction by acclaimed critic and Turning the Tables co-founder Ann Powers and edited by longtime series contributing writer and editor Alison Fensterstock, How Women Made Music includes contributions from prominent female and nonbinary music critics and experts as well as new material and previously unreleased content from NPR’s extensive archives, providing readers with exclusive insights and behind-the-scenes stories.

Featuring superstars and lesser-known musical geniuses, tradition bearers and breakers, shredders and scream queens, warriors and storytellers, How Women Made Music includes excerpts of archival interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations, as well as the list of 150 greatest albums made by women, the list of 200 greatest songs by 21st century women, and stands as a definitive history of how music has been made and evolved over the decades.

Join Alison Fensterstock and Gman Author Series’ director Jill Hopkins in conversation. Additional Special Guests include:
Jill Sternheimer – co-creator of NPR Music’s Gracie Award winning series Turning the Tables, and is currently a programming and curatorial consultant for Lincoln Center, McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ, and the Evanston Folk Festival.
Caryn Rose – Historian, archivist, music journalist, and former New Yorker. She’s lived on the East Side of Detroit since 2020, not far from the former home of the subject of her most recent book, Why Patti Smith Matters.

The evening will be soundtracked by DJs Jen B. Larson and Liz Lane, who will be spinning tunes from an extensive collection of music made by women who rock!

Copies of How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music will be available for purchase at the event. Book-signing to follow the conversation.

Free with RSVP / 21 & over / Doors: 6:30pm / Show: 7:30pm