Tony Bolden

Dr. Tony Bolden is a Professor of African and African-American Studies. His teaching and research interests include a broad spectrum of topics related to artistic expression in the African Diaspora, especially black music and literature. His book, Afro-Blue: Improvisations in African American Poetry and Culture (2004), is among the studies that prefigured the outpouring of scholarship devoted to black poetry today. Bolden has also figured prominently in funk studies. In 2007, he organized a two-day symposium titled “Eruptions of Funk” at the University of Alabama, one of the earliest academic forums on the subject. Bolden continued his success at The University of Kansas, organizing six mini symposia titled “Make It Funky” between 2010 and 2016. Additionally, in 2013, he guest-edited “The Funk Issue,” a special issue of American Studies that included eleven peer-reviewed essays as well as poetry, photos, and artwork on the theme of funk. Bolden’s most recent book, Groove Theory: The Blues Foundation of Funk, was published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2020. Recently, he contributed his essay, "Afrofuturism in Black Music," to the Carnegie Hall Digital Timeline of African American Music. Bolden continues to publish articles on black writing and politics. He is also Editor of The Langston Hughes Review, and his current projects include a monograph on black writing as well as a collection of autobiographical essays.