10 Feb Women in the Rock and Roll Fast Lane
Hosted by Holly George-Warren
How do you navigate life as the child or partner of a rock star? And how do you deal with losing that person you’ve shared with the world? Grieving while handling your loved one’s legacy can be complicated. As the daughter of Frank Zappa, writer, actor and “Valley Girl” Moon Unit Zappa delves into such issues in her riveting memoir, Earth to Moon. For her illuminating book, I Can’t Remember if I Cried: Rock Widows on Life, Love and Legacy, Lori Tucker-Sullivan interviewed and profiled fourteen widows of rock stars/musicians – a project that helped her through the grieving process following her own husband’s death. Leading their conversation will be New York Times best-selling writer Holly George-Warren, author of biographies of musicians ranging from Janis Joplin to Gene Autry, and coauthor with Dolly Parton of Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones.
Holly George-Warren is the author or coauthor of 18 books, including Janis: Her Life and Music; A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton; and with Dolly Parton, the Grammy-nominated Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. Currently at work on a biography of Jack Kerouac, she has contributed to the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Creem, among numerous other publications.
Lori Tucker-Sullivan’s writing has appeared in major publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, The Manifest-Station, Passages North, The Sun, Midwestern Gothic and others, as well as the anthologies Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, 100 Words of Solitude: Writers on the Pandemic, and Red State Blues. Her essays, “Detroit, 2015” and “Time, Touch, and a Whale’s Grief, were nominated for a Pushcart Prize. “Detroit, 2015” was also listed as a Notable Essay of 2015 in Best American Essays 2016. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Spalding University. Her first book, I Can’t Remember If I Cried: Rock Widows on Life, Love and Legacy, from Backbeat Books was released in June, 2024. It profiles the widows of her favorite rock stars and what they taught her about grief.
Moon Zappa is a writer, podcaster, artist, and tea merchant. Her memoir, Earth to Moon was published in 2024.
Get a Full Festival pass and you’ll get to take in the Story Slam on Thursday night. Then sail into the weekend: attending all the wonderful panels, both parties, and both evening events. And share the bounty from our always-stuffed goody bag.