FELA! THE UNDISPUTED KING OF AFROBEAT – NONFICTION

CONOR MCCREERY is the swashbuckling Canadian wordsmith behind the Kill Shakespeare series (IDW), an action-adventure take on the Bard’s characters that spawns six volumes, a stage play, and a board game. McCreery has told stories for brands like Adventure Time, Regular Show, Assassin’s Creed, and more. His latest projects include Fela: Music is the Weapon, the young adult adventure The Last Witch (BOOM!Box), the coming-of-age tale Status (Scholastic), and the horror-comedy Trickster (Twisted Publications!). He is also the co-creator of Embreate Productions' transmedia Science Fiction story-world, Future Now. He lives in France with his wife and three children.

JIBOLA FAGBAMIYE is a Nigerian-born visual artist. His work, inspired by African history and North American pop culture, has been exhibited in galleries across Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and Lagos, Nigeria. Fagbamiye illustrated The New York Times bestseller Black AF: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America and Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar, and contributed to IDW's Full Bleed Vol. 4 anthology. While he has worked on many independent projects, the graphic novel Fela: Music Is the Weapon (Amistad) marks his debut. Fagbamiye lives in Toronto with his wife and son. You can find his work on www.jibolastudios.com.

NELSON GEORGE is an author, filmmaker, and lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York. His books include the five novels in his D Hunter mystery series: The Accidental Hunter, The Plot Against Hip Hop: A Novel, The Lost Treasures of R&B, To Funk and Die in LA, and The Darkest Hearts. His many nonfiction works are The Death of Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop America, and The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & Style. As a filmmaker, he has directed the documentaries Brooklyn Boheme, Finding the Funk, and A Ballerina’s Tale: The Incredible Rise of Misty Copeland.

RANDALL GRASS is a Philadelphia-based writer, musician, and record label executive who has been involved with reggae music since 1972. He has written for such publications as Spin, Musician, Downbeat, and many others. His book Great Spirits: Portraits of Life-Changing World Music Artists was published in 2010, and he was a contributor to The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Reggae International, and Roots, Rasta and Revolution. He has worked with such artists as Rita Marley, Culture, Third World, Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì, Lucky Dube, Alpha Blondy, and many more. His radio show, Roots Rock Reggae/World Beat Dance Party, ran from 1979-1992.