Writers on Boxing

Reading List

  • #116: ‘The Fall’ by Albert Camus

    #116: ‘The Fall’ by Albert Camus

    I’ve been reading Albert Camus’ The Fall this week as I continue to think about what exactly it is that draws me to his writing. And while I had my head in this extended prose monologue I came across a (very) brief mention of the French-Algerian middleweight boxer ‘Le Bombardier Marocain’ Marcel Cerdan. It’s actually… Read more

  • #115: ‘An Almanac of Twelve Sports’ by William Nicholson and Rudyard Kipling

    #115: ‘An Almanac of Twelve Sports’ by William Nicholson and Rudyard Kipling

    Just a quick ‘bonus’ blog post as I spotted this wonderful book in Sanders of Oxford during a visit to the city at the weekend. We were in the shop looking at old maps and prints and spotted ‘An Almanac of Twelve Sports’, illustrated by William Nicholson, on the way out of the shop. The… Read more

  • #114: ‘Boxing Athenas’ by N’Krumah Lawson Daku

    #114: ‘Boxing Athenas’ by N’Krumah Lawson Daku

    ‘Boxing Athenas’ is a photographic essay by artist N’Krumah Lawson Daku. This project began in 2010 as a way of documenting female boxers at Parisian club Boxing Beats Aubervilliers. As with many documentations of women’s boxing of this era, the project takes the feel of capturing something ‘underground’. Whilst only fifteen years old, the project… Read more

  • #113: ‘The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing’ by Donald McRae

    #113: ‘The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing’ by Donald McRae

    The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing, published by Simon and Schuster, is Donald McRae’s exploration of grief, sporting and political corruption, and is most likely his final book on the subject of boxing. The book cover features a painting by the wonderfully talented Amanda Kelley. This book is a follow-up of sorts to McRae’s… Read more

  • #112: ‘Soft Tissue Damage’ by Anna Whitwham

    #112: ‘Soft Tissue Damage’ by Anna Whitwham

    Soft Tissue Damage by Anna Whitwham (Rough Trade Books) is that rare but wonderful thing: a new boxing book to preorder, forget about, and then be surprised by as it falls through the letterbox. This book falls into the category of boxing book which isn’t really ‘about’ boxing, or boxers, promoters, venues, or famous bouts.… Read more

  • #111: ‘Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments’ by Saidiya Hartman

    #111: ‘Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments’ by Saidiya Hartman

    In ‘Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments’, Saidiya Hartman uses extensive research of a range of archival materials to expand, retell and imagine the lives of black women born in America in the early twentieth century – the first generation after emancipation. I came across this book as it’s on the reading list of my current module… Read more