Jason Frank Rothenberg
Kathleen Hanna has announced her first memoir. Billed as the story of the “trailblazing feminist icon, musician, outspoken women’s rights activist, and original rebel girl,” Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk will document the Bikini Kill and Le Tigre frontperson’s life from a childhood through to her early years in the formative Riot Grrrl scene and beyond. While the feminist punk scene of the '90s is a main focus of the book, Hanna also critiques its "later exclusivity" in her writing. It’s out May 14, 2024 through Ecco/HarperCollins.
A press release on the book reads:
Hanna makes clear that surviving as a singer who was a lightning rod for controversy took limitless amounts of determination as she and her bandmates faced male violence and antagonism at every turn. In an uncut voice all her own, Hanna reveals the hardest times along with the most joyful—and how it continues to fuel her revolutionary art and music.
Lifelong connections with bandmates, including Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Johanna Fateman; her friendships with Kurt Cobain and Ian MacKaye; and her introduction to Joan Jett were all a testament to how the punk world could nurture and care for its own. Hanna opens up about falling in love with Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, 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
Le Tigre are currently on tour after reuniting for their first shows in over two deacdes. Bikini Kill reformed in 2019 after splitting in 2017 and have toured on and off ever since. A decade ago Hanna was the subject of a biographical documentary, The Punk Singer.
