Writers on Boxing

Reading List

  • #95: ‘The 9 Lives of Ray The Cat Jones’ by Stewart Home

    #95: ‘The 9 Lives of Ray The Cat Jones’ by Stewart Home

    ‘The 9 Lives of Ray The Cat Jones’ is Stewart Home’s attempt at piecing together the mysterious life of infamous cat burglar Raymond Jones. The book was originally published as a limited edition run of 500 copies by Test Centre, now known as Prototype Publishing. The book is now available from Cripplegate Books. (I used… Read more

  • #94: ‘Not Just A Game – Sporting Poetry’ edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke

    #94: ‘Not Just A Game – Sporting Poetry’ edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke

    ‘Not Just A Game’ is an anthology of sporting poems, collected and edited by Andy Croft and Sue Dymoke, and published by Five Leaves press in 2006. I was questioning whether to post about this book as there are only three boxing-related poems, by two authors, in a collection with 200+ pages. However, I do… Read more

  • #93: ‘The Boxer’ by Nikesh Shukla

    #93: ‘The Boxer’ by Nikesh Shukla

    ‘The Boxer’ is Nikesh Sukla’s Young Adult-genre novel, published by Hodder Children’s Books in 2019. The boxer in question is teenager Sunil, the victim of a racist attack in Bristol, who eventually finds himself in a boxing gym in an attempt to learn self-defence. As he begins to train, ‘Sunny’ battles the traumatic effects of… Read more

  • #92: ‘The Big Smoke’ by Adrian Matejka

    #92: ‘The Big Smoke’ by Adrian Matejka

    ‘The Big Smoke’ is Adrian Matejka’s 2013 collection of poetry which tracks, in lyrical form, the life and career of heavyweight champion ‘Papa’ Jack Johnson. There was a period of my life in which I was completely entrenched in poetry. Between 2014 and 2020 I did little else than write poetry and interview/record hundreds of… Read more

  • #91: ‘Death of a Boxer’ by Pete Carvill

    #91: ‘Death of a Boxer’ by Pete Carvill

    ‘Death of a Boxer’ is Pete Carvill’s ode (or rather series of odes) to boxing, a collection of essays outlining his relationship with the sport. The book was published by Biteback Publishing, February 2024. Carvill walks us through what is now a strained association with the noble art, exploring themes of masculinity; the importance of… Read more

  • #90: ‘Headshot’ by Rita Bullwinkel

    #90: ‘Headshot’ by Rita Bullwinkel

    ‘Headshot’ is Rita Bullwinkel’s innovative novel about a group of girl boxers, published by Daunt Books in March 2024. The first thing to say about this book is how interesting the format is: it follows eight boxers (from the quarter-final stage) competing across two days in a fictional amateur tournament in the USA. The book’s… Read more