<DIV><p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s got the gift of lyrical precision&mdash;nothing cuts to the core quite like the resolution of DiFranco rhyme.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Billboard</i></p><p>With eight Grammy nominations, a gold record, and sales of over 4.5 million, Ani DiFranco is one of America&rsquo;s most fiercely independent and beloved musicians, as well as an outspoken voice of conscience. For the first time, she releases a book of poetry and paintings capturing her essential artistry that has helped define and invigorate a new generation.</p><p><i>Ani DiFranco: Verses</i> rages, eulogizes, menaces, revels, and envisions. With a poet&rsquo;s precision and a citizen&rsquo;s stake, DiFranco finds the meeting places of intimacy and politics, of self and country, of resolve and compromise, and of the fickle and magnificent capacities of love and solitude.</p><p>In 1990 at the age of eighteen, <b>Ani DiFranco</b> rewrote the rules of the record industry when she created her own label, Righteous Babe Records, as an alternative to beckoning corporate offices. Since then, RBR has released nineteen full-length DiFranco albums to critical acclaim, and is now home to over a dozen cutting-edge new artists. DiFranco was named one of the top twenty-five most influential artists of the past twenty-five years by <i>CMJ New Music</i> (alongside Nirvana and U2) and one of 21 Feminists for the 21st Century by <i>Ms. Magazine</i>. Together with <i>Ani DiFranco: Verses</i>, she released her first retrospective album, <i>Canon</i>, in September 2007, and proceeded on a twenty-city tour in the United States.</p></DIV>