Evelyn McDonnell has written or co-edited six books, including Rock She Wrote: Women Write about Rock, Pop, and Rap and Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyoncé. She has been a pop culture writer at the Miami Herald and a senior editor at The Village Voice, and she is also the series editor for Music Matters, a collection of short books about musicians. Her writing has appeared in various publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone.