How Women Made Music: NPR Music - Panel Discussion

Join us for a panel discussion of How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music, with special guest contributors including Ann Powers, Alison Fensterstock, Jill Sternheimer and Marissa Lorusso. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at [email protected] by September 17 to request.

Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected]

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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 co-founder 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.

Photo credit: Emily April Allen

Ann Powers is a critic and correspondent for NPR Music and the author of several books, most recently Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell (Dey Street Books, 2024). She lives in Nashville.

Alison Fensterstock is a writer and editor living in New Orleans. She is a longtime contributor to NPR Music and “Turning the Tables,” and a DJ on the award-winning community radio station WWOZ-FM.

Host or Publisher The Strand Book Store