How Nina Simone Changed the World: A Q&A Conversation with Pulitzer Prize Winning Writer and Critic Salamishah Tillet In Conversation with Jason King, Dean of USC Thornton School of Music

NINA SIMONE: BEYOND CATEGORY
USC Thornton School of Music’s Beyond Category Series

How Nina Simone Changed the World brings Pulitzer Prize–winning writer and critic Salamishah Tillet to the University of Southern California for a special conversation in anticipation of the 2026 publication of her forthcoming work, All the Rage: Nina Simone and the World She Made. In this thought-provoking conversation event with Jason King, Dean of the USC Thornton School of Music, Tillet explores Simone’s enduring legacy as a cultural force and freedom fighter, Presented as part of Thornton’s Beyond Category: Nina Simone series, the evening invites audiences to consider Simone not just as an artist, but as a cultural innovator who, years after her passing, continues to reshape the landscape of possibility.

Free and open to the public with advance RSVP. Reservations will open soon.

NINA SIMONE: BEYOND CATEGORY is an event series presented by USC’s Thornton School of Music, as part of its now-annual Beyond Category Series. This groundbreaking program examines Nina Simone’s singular artistic voice and her multifaceted approach to music and the making of culture. Widely celebrated as a global icon of jazz, blues, and civil rights activism, Simone’s work was deeply rooted in classical music, which helped shape her phrasing, harmonic language, and improvisational brilliance.

Fusing that classical precision with the emotional power of gospel, jazz, and blues, among other styles, Simone defied genre boundaries and created a body of work that remains uncategorizable—bold, boundary-breaking, and timeless.