NEW RELEASE
Mirror in the Sky: The Life and Music of Stevie Nicks
From the University of California Press: Morrison's book about the iconic musician, and the book's namesake, Stevie Nicks.
"Though Nicks has characterized her own techniques as spontaneous and idiosyncratic, this book approaches her process in a serious manner, pointing out the chord progressions, lyrics, and rhythms that comprise her message of independence and self-assurance. Here, Nicks is re-centered as an artistic presence in her own right, and her opulent attire, seductive mystique, and wide influences become proof of her lasting star quality.
"Written with respect and admiration, Mirror in the Sky analyzes Stevie Nicks’s music with care, noting how it expressed the sentiments of a generation."
— Mari Carlson, Foreword Reviews
Upcoming Events
2023 Tucson Festival of Books
"The life of a star musician can get complicated. Chronicling that life gets complicated, too. Today, we will meet the biographers of Stevie Nicks, Chuck Berry and Sonny Rollins. They will take us backstage, and describe how hard it can be to hit just the right note with a musical biography."
Simon Morrison Receives Behrman Award for the Humanities
"A brilliant and supremely conscientious teacher, Simon is famous on campus for his beautifully crafted lectures and his extraordinary intellectual range, touching students in music, Slavic [languages and literatures], humanistic studies, and the Global Seminar.”
Featured Books
Bolshoi Confidential
On a freezing night in January 2013, a hooded assailant hurled acid in the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet...
Lina & Serge
Serge Prokofiev was one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant composers yet is an enigma to historians and his fans...
The People's Artist
Sergey Prokofiev was one of the twentieth century's greatest composers—and one of its greatest mysteries. Until now...
Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement
This second edition explores music and the occult during the Russian Symbolist movement...
Notable Reviews
On Bolshoi Confidential
The insider look in Bolshoi Confidential is incredibly rich and makes this book a page-turner…Breathtakingly complicated life stories of both people and productions parade through the pages…Its central figures, like Plisetskaya, jump off its pages complex and alive."
—Daria Khitrova, New York Times
On Lina and Serge: The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev
"Simon Morrison has written a brilliant and riveting tale of love, intrigue, terror, and betrayal that forces us to confront the paradox of how great art can be made by unspeakably cruel and heartless individuals."
—Leon Botstein, music director and conductor, American Symphony Orchestra, and president of Bard College
On The People's Artist
"Simon Morrison has now produced the most definitive study of Prokofiev the Soviet composer in any language, drawing on a wealth of archival material hitherto unavailable...Indispensable to anyone even casually interested in this field."
—Music and Letters
Upcoming Projects
Moskva by Simon Morrison
Morrison signed with Random House on Moskva, a book about Moscow. It is expected to release in 2024.
Shostakovich
Morrison is signed with Norton for a book on the Soviet composer and pianist, Dmitri Shostakovich.
Writings
Morrison has published feature articles and opinion pieces in The New York Times, New York Review of Books, Threepenny Review, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and more.
Productions
Morrison has been a Director, Musicologist, Project Coordinator, Collaborator for several ballet and dance performances.
Interviews & Lectures
Morrison is an acclaimed public speaker equally in demand by academic and general audiences.