Kathleen Hanna, frontwoman of the legendary punk rock band Bikini Kill, announced her new memoir book ‘Rebel Girl: My Life As A Feminist Punk.’ The book will be released on May 14, 2024, via Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Bikini Kill embodied the punk scene of the 90s, and today her personal yet feminist lyrics on anthems like ‘Rebel Girl’ and ‘Double Dare Ya’ are more powerful than ever. But where did this transformative voice come from?
In ‘Rebel Girl,’ Hanna’s raw and insightful new memoir, she takes readers from her tumultuous childhood to her formative college years and her first shows. As Hanna makes clear, being in a punk “girl band” in those years was not a simple or safe prospect. Male violence and antagonism threatened at every turn, and surviving as a singer who was a lightning rod for controversy took limitless amounts of determination.
But the relationships she developed during those years buoyed her, including with her bandmates Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, JD Samson, and Johanna Fateman. And her friendships with musicians like Kurt Cobain, Ian MacKaye, Kim Gordon, and Joan Jett reminded her that, despite the odds, the punk world could still nurture and care for its own. Hanna opens up about falling in love with Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys and her debilitating battle with Lyme disease, and she brings us behind the scenes of her musical growth in her bands Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin. She also writes candidly about the Riot Grrrl movement, documenting with love its grassroots origins but critiquing its exclusivity. In an uncut voice all her own, Hanna reveals the hardest times along with the most joyful – and how they continue to fuel her revolutionary art and music.
In support of the book release, Hanna announced a US book tour in May 2024. A portion of all book tour ticket sales will be donated to the non-profit organization Peace Sisters, who help girls ‘empower themselves through reliable access to education in Togo, West Africa.
May 14th – Greenlight Bookstore (Kings Theatre) – Brooklyn, NY
May 15th – Loyalty Bookstore (Lincoln Theatre) – Washington, DC
May 16th – Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Mason High School) – Cincinnati, OH
May 18th – Women & Children First (Hermann Hall) – Chicago, IL
May 20th – Book Soup (First Congregational Church) – Los Angeles, CA
May 21st – City Arts & Lectures (The Sydney Goldstein Theater) – San Francisco, CA
May 22nd – Seattle Arts & Lectures (Town Hall Seattle) – Seattle, WA
May 23rd – Powell’s Books (Revolution Hall) – Portland, OR
May 28th – Brookline Booksmith (The Wilbur Theatre) – Boston, MA
May 29th – Uncle Bobbie’s (WHYY Studio) – Philadelphia, PA