City Research Online

Abstract

This interview with Vincent Hazard explores the creative genesis and collaborative process behind Strange Fruit. La chanson d’Abel (Dupuis, Aire Libre, 2025), a French language graphic novel illustrated by A. Dan that reimagines the story of Abel Meeropol, who wrote the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit” (1939), and his connection to jazz icon Billie Holiday. Hazard recounts his journey from sound engineer to screenwriter, radio dramatist, and eventually graphic novel writer, highlighting how his earlier audio drama on Meeropol evolved into a comic. The conversation delves into key challenges of narrative balance, visual representation, emotional authenticity, and political resonance. Hazard reflects on the unique responsibilities of portraying racially and politically sensitive histories, the aesthetics of musicality in comics, and the necessity of research-driven storytelling grounded in archival truth. The interview also addresses the importance of artistic collaboration, transatlantic reception, and the socio-political relevance of such stories today, emphasising the value of complexity, nuance, and transnational solidarity in reclaiming marginalised histories through graphic storytelling.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	Graphic Memoir, Historical Representation, Transnational Comics, Race and Memory, Collaborative Storytelling, Jazz
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) M Music and Books on Music > M Music P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Departments:	School of Science & Technology School of Science & Technology > Department of Computer Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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