Who are the great songwriters in America today?

Not the most popular. Not the richest. Simply the greats.

Ask any student of the form, and Janis Ian will be counted among them. The writer of "Jesse," a song recorded by so many others that few remember Ian wrote it; "Stars," possibly the best song ever written about the life of a performer, recorded by artists as diverse as Mel Torme and Cher; and the seminal "At Seventeen", a song that brought her five Grammy nominations (the most any solo female artist had ever garnered) in 1975, and which is now reaching its third generation of listeners.

Ian is a formidable talent, a force of nature. Ella Fitzgerald called her "The best young singer in America." Chet Atkins said "Singer? You ought to hear that girl play guitar; she gives me a run for my money!" Reviewers have called her live performances "overwhelming to the spirit and soul," and "drenched with such passion, the audience feels they've been swept up in a hurricane." Not to mention her short stories, her songs for film and television…and oh, yes. She also runs a foundation, named for her mother, which works with various universities and colleges to supply scholarships for returning students; they’ve raised over $300,000 to date!

In 2008, Janis reached another pinnacle in her career, releasing her long-awaited book Society's Child: My Autobiography. The hardcover was released in North America by Tarcher/Penguin. This monumental story that traces Janis meteoric rise to fame in the 60s and beyond has already gotten stellar reviews; Oprah's O Magazine called it "Hugely readable" and recommended it as one of the summer's 27 "must-reads." Mojo Magazine gives it a four-star review, while Booklist raves it's "painfully candid, and hard to put down."

2009 saw the release of Society’s Child in paperback (Tarcher/Penguin) and a return to her roots when Janis and Sony jointly unveil The Essential Janis Ian timed to coincide with the release of the paperback in September. The double CD-set contains 31 tracks, and is the first "best of" Janis has ever released in North America. From start to finish, it unearths such gems as Ian's very first demo recording ("Hair of Spun Gold," sung into her father's tape recorder when she was thirteen years old), and features all the classics, completely re-mastered from the original sources, as well as never-before-heard bonus tracks.

Now available for touring, book signings, keynote speaker engagements or in-depth workshops, Janis Ian is a voice of a generation, a star of song and poetry, and a musical genius.