SPORT IN LITERATURE

Poet-in-residence with Tottenham Hotspur, Sarah Wardle's second collection is an engaging commentary on popular culture, family, sport, the female voice and science. The first part of the anthology concentrates on Wardle's experiences with the football club and her impressions of being located within an alternative sort of community.

Richard Williams is chief sports correspondent for the Guardian and this is his account of the pivotal 1957 Pescara Grand Prix which marked the end of an era in motor racing. Stirling Moss won the race, ending the supremacy by the Italian teams and The Last Road Race is the hair-raising account of one of the great sporting events of the previous century.

David Winner is a freelance journalist who has written an impressive account of football in the Netherlands, placing it within the wider context of Dutch culture. The Netherlands is one of the world's most sophisticated and distinctive footballing nations and Winner deconstructs the myths, the heroes, the intellectualism and the muscular prowess of the country's national sport.
'Ambitious and illuminating.' The Independent on Sunday

Included in Granta 45 is Ian Hamilton's story of soccer superstar Paul Gascoigne at work and at play. This is a fan's account of his personal obsession with a player's life and a story of sports celebrity and its role in contemporary culture.

Author of contemporary classic Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby has edited a stunning collection of football writing which includes pieces by Roddy Doyle, Harry Pearson, Harry Ritchie, D.J. Taylor, Huw Richards, Nick Hornby, Chris Pierson, Matt Nation and Don Watson.
'A new kind of football writing developed - passionate, disrespectful, self-mocking, yet steeped in personal bias.' The Sunday Times

The second in the superb series featuring writing on football includes Lynn Truss on Gazza, Simon Inglis on taking his godson to his first match and Harry Ritchie on the strengths and weaknesses in Scottish football.

The fourth in the series featuring writing on football from around the world, including Roddy Doyle on children and football, Simon Veksner on tales from advertising and Hunter Davies on Igor Stimac.