Ann Powers

Who is Ann Powers?

Ann Powers is an American writer and pop music critic who earned a Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and a Master of Arts in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s. The author of such books as Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America and coeditor of Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Pop, and Rap, she has written for various publications like the New York Times, Blender Magazine, and the Village Voice. As one of the nation’s “most notable music critics” according to NPR, Powers has been writing for The Record, NPR's blog about finding, making, buying, sharing and talking about music, since April 2011. She currently writes for NPR Music, and is a contributor for The Los Angeles Times.

A Seattle, Washington native, she has written for many music publications, and her work has been widely anthologized. A female critic and journalist for a popular, male dominated industry, Powers’ work offers critique around the perception of sex as well as racial and social minorities in the music industry.