Archives de catégorie : Music

LION OF JUDAH (Graphic Novel) de M. Menelik Makhar

An immersive graphic novel detailing Bob Marley’s moving personal history and foundation as a musical, cultural, spiritual, and political legend.

LION OF JUDAH: A Graphic Novel
by M. Menelik Makhar
Ten Speed Press, September 2025

LION OF JUDAH is the graphic novel story of Bob Marley’s early life and origins as an artist and musical prophet. The book juxtaposes Marley’s personal history with stories of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, the former emperor of Ethiopia and Marley’s self-proclaimed « Spiritual Father, » and Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of an independent Ghana, the country of Marley’s family ancestry. LION OF JUDAH—named for the prominent symbol of the Rastafari movement—weaves together the seminal moments of these three timelines through an anthology-style artistic collaboration of an international all-star team of comic artists including Damien Hill, Massimiliano Veltri, Will Rosado, N. Steven Harris, Christopher « ChrisCross » Williams, and Eric Battle among others.
This full-color, immersive visual reading experience is the untold story of Bob Marley, a comprehensive history of Reggae music, and an insightful examination of music, spirituality, and politics. LION OF JUDAH depicts the enduring lessons of struggles, triumph, and tragedy that connect us all.

M. Menelik Makhar is an acclaimed activist, songwriter/ghostwriter, and musician.

HEARTBREAK IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM de Rob Sheffield

An intimate look at the life and music of modern pop’s most legendary figure, Taylor Swift, from leading music journalist Rob Sheffield.

HEARTBREAK IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
by Rob Sheffield
Dey Street, August 2024
(via DeFiore & Company)

As Taylor Swift’s preferred and most trusted music journalist, Rob Sheffield has enjoyed closer access to the mega-star than any other writer working today. His unique insight has afforded him a singular perspective of Taylor’s world and her impact on the world. Inspired by his years of this exclusive access, and the Swiftie response to his commentary on their beloved Taylor, Sheffield merges reportage and criticism in a way that only he can.

At once one of the most beloved music figures of the past two decades and one of the most criticized, Taylor Swift is known as much for her life beyond her music as she is for her constant stream of hits—and most of all, how she uses the former to not only create the latter, but market and brand herself throughout the many “eras” of her career. At once both approachable and enigmatic, Taylor Swift has become a master of controlling the narrative surrounding her life and career while keeping fans eager to learn of her every next step.

In the tradition of Sheffield’s award-winning Dreaming the Beatles, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem will inform and delight a legion of fans who hang on every word from Taylor and every word Rob writes on her.

Rob Sheffield is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. He has been a rock critic and pop culture journalist for more than 15 years, and has appeared on various MTV and VH1 shows. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF MUSIC d’Andrew Ford

From prehistory to now, the fascinating story of why music is vital to the human experience.

THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF MUSIC
by Andrew Ford
Black Inc. (Australia), August 2024

From award-winning broadcaster and composer Andrew Ford, The Shortest History of Music is a lively, authoritative tour through several thousand years of music. Packed with colourful characters and surprising details, it sets out to understand what exactly music is – and why humans are irresistibly drawn to making it.

This is not a traditional chronological account. Instead, Andrew Ford focuses on key themes in the history of music and considers how they have played out across the ages. How has music interacted with other social forces, such as religion and the economy? How have technological changes shaped the kinds of music humans make? From lullabies to concert halls, songlines to streaming services, what has music meant to humans at different times and in different places?

Andrew Ford OAM is a composer, writer and broadcaster who has won awards in each of those capacities, including the Paul Lowin Prize for his song cycle Learning to Howl, a Green Room Award for his opera Rembrandt’s Wife and the Albert H Maggs Prize for his large ensemble piece, Rauha. He has been composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In 2014 he was Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at Yale University, in 2015 visiting lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 2018 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. Ford has written widely on all manner of music and published ten previous books. He has written, presented and co-produced five radio series for the ABC and, since 1995, presented The Music Show each weekend on Radio National. He was awarded an OAM in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

UNTITLED ON TAYLOR SWIFT de Stephanie Burt

A leading literary and pop culture critic looks at Taylor Swift at the height of her success.

UNTITLED ON TAYLOR SWIFT
by Stephanie Burt
Basic Books, TBD
(via Frances Goldin Literary Agency)

Based on her forthcoming course at Harvard University, the announcement of which received major media coverage from around the world, UNTITLED ON TAYLOR SWIFT will be the first serious work of cultural criticism about Taylor Swift as an artist and creator, touching on girlhood, fame, privilege, costume, economics, song and stagecraft, and the author’s own transition to womanhood. In the vein of Sarah Smarsh’s She Come By It Natural, on Dolly Parton, or Touré’s I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon, Burt’s book will be an appreciation and analysis of one of the most influential pop stars of a generation.

Stephanie Burt is a poet, literary critic, and professor with nine published books, including Close Calls with Nonsense (Graywolf Press, 2009) which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her most recent poetry collection is We Are Mermaids (Graywolf, 2022). Her culture writing has appeared in many venues including The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Republic, The Nation, the London Review of Books and TLS. She is a Guggenheim award winner and the Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English at Harvard University.

SHOWSTOPPER de Tom Ramsay

A joyful and hilarious queer YA romance set in the mad mad world of musical theatre.

SHOWSTOPPER
by Tom Ramsay
TBA
(via Randle Editorial & Literary Consultancy)

In the bright lights of the West End, a competition – and romance – is heating up to bring the drama, plot twists and exhilarating highs that only musical theatre can.

Gregarious giant Olly is back at the UK’s most prestigious competition for teen performers to prove he has what it takes to be a leading man after he was sabotaged last year; determined to stand out like his favourite Broadway diva Bernadette Peters.

Nervous novice Tarun would rather be anywhere other than centre stage. Nominated after stepping into his school show under much duress; he’s been blackmailed into attending by his Mum and mates and knows nothing about musicals. As far as he’s concerned, ‘Chicago’ is somewhere you get deep dish pizza, and ‘Hairspray’ is something you buy in Boots.

So when the two boys get paired to share a hotel room, Olly can’t comprehend sharing with someone who doesn’t live and breathe the magical world of musicals, whilst Tarun thinks Olly is “way too much” and cannot decipher a single one of his references. But as they get to talking, they discover they’ve more in common than the opening number might reveal. Amidst the drama of rehearsals, could two boys be falling in love?

The novel is filled to the brim with humour, drama and queer joy, and is a laugh-out-loud page-turner that will be appreciated and embraced both by musical theatre fans and by those who are more sceptical. The love of musicals is irresistibly infectious, as is the romance, and it is perfect for readers who loved Heartstopper, Gay Club, and those who are re-discovering Glee (as well as those who remember it the first time around!)

Tom Ramsay works for a West End Producer as Literary Manager and Dramaturg, looking after new work and writers of theatre for the company. This role has included working on an Olivier-nominated play and helping to translate a musical about the life of Marie Curie from Korean to English. In his own writing, he is passionate about telling queer stories with the hope and optimism that he longed to find on bookshelves growing up, with a touch of theatrical magic for good measure.