Nothing Compares to Her

I coedited a book about Sinéad O'Connor

Taking a brief diversion from our regularly scheduled cancer-and-movement content to share the news that NOTHING COMPARES TO YOU: WHAT SINÉAD O’CONNOR MEANS TO US, the anthology I’ve been working on all year with Sonya Huber, is now available for preorder from Simon & Schuster. <insert Kermit flail gif>

Nothing Compares is a collection of personal essays by women and nonbinary writers, each one writing in response to one song from Sinéad O’Connor’s expansive body of work. Sonya had the idea for this book shortly after O’Connor’s sudden, shocking death last year, and enlisted me as coeditor when it became clear the project had legs. As the essays rolled in over the spring and summer we have marvelled at the beauty, talent, and vulnerability on display here. It should be no surprise that a collection of writing in conversation with the work of Sinéad O’Connor would engage with the tough stuff of family, motherhood, child abuse, religion, sexuality, depression, misogyny, and racism, but the power and creativity with which these 26 writers have embraced the assignment has been, honestly, humbling.

I’m honored to have an essay of mine included here, one that charts a hard period in my own life. It was difficult for me to write but, in the end, it was healing. The world often scoffs at this as the end point of art, especially in the context of the personal essay, but Sinéad’s music healed wounds for so many, many fans that it feels the purest tribute I can offer. I — and Sonya and all the contributors — hope that readers may see themselves somewhere in the pages of this book, and recieve the same grace.

With a foreword by Neko Case, and essays by: Sharbari Ahmed, Zoe Zolbrod, Sinéad Gleeson, Gina Frangello, Porochista Khakpour, Millicent Souris, Madhushree Ghosh, Heidi Czerwiec, Brooke Champagne, Sarah Viren, Megan Stielstra, May-lee Chai, Sonya Huber, Stacey Lynn Brown, Mieke Eerkens, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samasinha, Lauretta Hannon, Martha Bayne, Lidia Yuknavich, Jill Christman, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Myriam Gurba, Nalini Jones, and Allyson McCabe.

Coming July 22, 2025 to a bookstore or online retailer near you! Here’s that preorder link again.