Jazz and Literature: An Introduction

Jazz and Literature: An Introduction presents an original collection of essays from leading international scholars, examining an array of musical and literary interconnections including improvisation, multicultural influences, poetry, modernism, the Beat movement, jazz forms, noir, solo and collective expression, global perspectives on jazz and literature, etc. This volume sheds light on the critical and creative discussions of music and literature, showing the evolving relevance of jazz in the twenty-first century. The book also includes a special section dedicated to interviews with writers, musicians, and creatives such as U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, Jericho Brown, Anthony Joseph, Geoff Dyer, Paul Hirsch, Dickie Landry, and Dwandalyn R. Reece. This volume is an ideal resource for students of music and literature and for academics interested in the creative dialogues between jazz and literature.

Maria Antónia Lima is Associate Professor at the University of Évora, in Portugal, where she completed her PhD on the fiction of Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville. She is a researcher at the University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies (ULICES) and teaches American Literature at the University of Évora. She was President of the Portuguese Association for Anglo-American Studies (APEAA) and a Board Member of the European Society for the Studies of English (ESSE). Her publications include international essays in specialized journals and critical volumes, as well as books on Gothic and the relationships between literature and the arts.

Mia Funk is an artist, podcast host, writer, and creative educator. Founder of The Creative Process international educational initiative, podcast, and travelling exhibition, her varied work sees her leading workshops and mentoring students around creativity, critical thinking, environmental ethics, and humanities disciplines. Her work appears in public and private collections, including the U.S. Library of Congress, Office of Public Works, and Centre Culturel Irlandais de Paris. She’s received the Prix de Peinture from the Salon d’Automne and exhibited in the Grand Palais. Funk served on the National Advisory Council of the American Writers Museum and serves on the advisory board of the European Conference for the Humanities.