Ella Fitzgerald & Marilyn Monroe in Can't We Be Friends by Denny S. Bryce & Eliza Knight

Listen in as I chat with Denny S. Bryce and Eliza Knight, co-authors of Can't We Be Friends: A Novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe listed in the Music category on Art In Fiction.

View the Video on YouTube

• How Denny & Eliza decided to write their novel about Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe
• Research tidbits that led them into the story
• How both Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe changed the face of entertainment--Ella in jazz and Marilyn in film
• Marilyn Monroe as one of the first female producers
• Ella Fitzgerald's influence on jazz and how she made sure she was in the mix for each change in music trends within jazz
• What the friendship meant from each woman's point of view
• The power of female friendship; quote from Michele Obama
• Ella and Marilyn, and their relationships with the men in their lives
• How Can't We Be Friends is a novel about striving to be the best, about excellence even more than fame
• How Ella Fitzgerald was "dangerous"
• Challenges that Eliza & Denny faced writing a novel about two real people
• Reading by Denny Bryce from Can't We Be Friends
• Reading by Eliza Knight from Can't We Be Friends
• The collaboration process--how Denny & Eliza wrote the novel together
• What both Eliza & Denny learned from writing Can't We Be Friends
• Use of first and third person in Can't We Be Friends
• The power of spreadsheets!
• What Denny is working on now
• What Eliza is working on now

Press Play now & be sure to check out Can't We Be Friends on Art In Fiction.
Denny S. Bryce's Website
Eliza Knight's Website

Music Credit
Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

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