“The book . . . is quintessentially Ani—and just as much Rosen’s, who initially approached the artist about the idea—and feels like eavesdropping on a conversation between the two of them, surrounded by chotchkes, artifacts and talismen from her storied career . . . The Spirit of Ani, which follows her best-selling memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream, offers the co-authors’ reflections on just about everything you’d ever want their perspective on: contemporary popular culture, gender and queer politics, the music industry in the virtual age, climate change . . .”
—People

“The collaborative format produces an enticing, echoing meditation on the mystic role of the artist as well as, at its most reciprocal, the spiritual role of the fan. This is both a supplemental text to DiFranco’s memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, and a politically charged prayer book for the Gen X women and queer followers who have found a missing piece of their reality mirrored in DiFranco, even as she struggles to ‘write [herself] into a different state of being’ and ‘into power.’”
—Booklist

“Thoughtful, multifaceted, and mind-expanding, The Spirit of Ani is highly recommended.”
—Midwest Book Review

“Ani DiFranco has never been an artist who hides behind mystique . . . In The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music, and Freedom, that candor becomes the heart of a book-length conversation between DiFranco and anthropologist and fellow musician, Lauren Coyle Rosen. What emerges is not a traditional memoir, nor a linear retrospective, but an intimate, searching dialogue that feels as alive and improvisational as one of Ani’s concerts . . . What makes the book truly compelling is DiFranco’s vulnerability . . . For longtime fans, The Spirit of Ani is a gift: a chance to sit in on a conversation that feels both familiar and revelatory. For readers new to DiFranco, it offers a generous introduction to her world, one defined by fierce independence, deep empathy, and an unwavering commitment to truth-telling.”
—Support Life and Music

“In her riveting memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco shared the ways that music brought her ‘deeper and deeper into the world’ . . . in her memoir, there’s a spiritual component in which DiFranco acknowledges her attunement to consciousness and to the natural rhythms that shape the ebb and flow of life. Now, in an illuminating series of conversations with artist and author Lauren Coyle Rosen, The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music, and Freedom (Akashic, March 3)—recorded between the winter and the spring of 2023—DiFranco explores several themes related to her artistry and her philosophy.”
—No Depression