Last night, I attended the first of two New York-hosted events for the 2010 edition of the Best Music Writing series. (A second, at Brooklyn’s Southpaw, is happening tonight.) While there, I was reminded via an announcement that a collection of the late Ellen Willis’s writings on music is due out next year.

Publication date for the volume in question is still a few months off (May 2011, to be specific), but I suspect that this collection will be of interest to many of you.

From the University of Minnesota Press’s description:

As a writer for a magazine with a circulation of nearly half a million, Willis was also the country’s most widely read rock critic. With a voice at once sharp, thoughtful, and ecstatic, she covered a wide range of artists—Bob Dylan, The Who, Van Morrison, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joni Mitchell, the Velvet Underground, Sam and Dave, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Wonder—assessing their albums and performances not only on their originality, musicianship, and cultural impact but also in terms of how they made her feel.

If you’re not familiar with Willis’s work — politically challenging, sharply composed, and still very, very relevant — this is a fine place to start.