Nothing Compares to You
What Sinéad O’Connor Means to Us
What Sinéad O’Connor Meant-and Still Means-to Us
Bold. Uncompromising. Unforgettable.
Sinéad O’Connor’s life and legacy continue to spark conversation, reflection, and deep emotion. Join us for an intimate reading and discussion drawn from Nothing Compares to You, a powerful new anthology exploring the Irish artist’s seismic influence on music, identity, activism, and cultural courage.
Saturday, November 22, at 3:30 pm in Room 109
Alison Cuddy
Moderator
Alison Cuddy is a Chicago‑based cultural producer, writer and former host of the flagship program Eight Forty‑Eight on WBEZ 91.5 FM. She also served as Artistic Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival and has moderated public forums across the city’s arts institutions. With her deep knowledge of culture, ideas and conversation, she will guide the discussion with insight and nuance.
Martha Bayne
Co-Editor, Writer
Martha Bayne is a Chicago‑based writer, essayist and senior acquisitions editor at the University of Illinois Press. With more than three decades in journalism and publishing, she has edited several acclaimed anthologies about Chicago and the Midwest, and writes the Substack newsletter Range of Motion. Nothing Compares to You is co‑edited by her (with Sonya Huber) and published in 2025 by Atria/One Signal.
Zoe Zolbrod
Contributor, Author
Zoe Zolbrod is the author of the memoir The Telling and the novel Currency. Her essays have appeared in Salon, The Guardian, LitHub, and The Rumpus (where she served as Sunday co editor). Based outside Chicago, she also works as a writer and editor and brings a richly analytical lens to themes of trauma, gender, and literary form.
Why this book matters
More than thirty years ago Sinéad O’Connor challenged the status quo— tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II in protest of church‑violence— and from that moment cemented her place as a fearless voice of conscience. In Nothing Compares to You, over two dozen women and non‑binary writers come together in tribute to O’Connor’s fusion of musical genius and political courage. They explore how her work reverberated in their own journeys as artists and human beings, engaging themes of gender identity, spirituality, art, resistance and transformation. This is a timely and accessible entry point into understanding an Irish icon whose voice continues to ring out across generations and cultural divides.
How it came to be
From idea to panel: this anthology emerged when the two editors invited a multi‑generational group of women and non‑binary writers—each deeply influenced by Sinéad O’Connor—to contribute essays reflecting on her life, work and legacy. Martha Bayne (co‑editor) curated, commissioned and worked collaboratively with the contributors to craft the thematic arc of the collection. Zoe Zolbrod is one of those contributors and will join us in person to read and reflect on her essay in dialogue with the broader themes. Alison Cuddy brings her moderation skills and public‑culture background to frame the conversation for a live audience, creating a space where music, activism and identity intersect—just as O’Connor’s own journey did.