Category: Festival of Football Ideas

A pleasure to kick off festival fever

Bristol PlanetariumThis weekend I appeared at the opening night of the Festival of Football Ideas to talk about my new crime novel Chasing the Game.

The two-week event, held at the enchanting Bristol Planetarium (pictured) on the eve of the 2014 World Cup, is a celebration of how literature, art, film, music and comedy can connect with football.

My talk, within a section called ‘Altering the narrative’, was titled ‘Chasing the Game – A Creative Twist on the Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy’.

I spoke about how I used aspects of the real-life theft of the Jules Rimet (World Cup) Trophy in London in 1966 and combined them with fictional elements to create Chasing the Game, a dramatic and gripping depiction of this famous crime that remains unsolved to this day.

The Festival, running each night until Saturday 14 June, will feature further talks and performances from artists, writers, poets, academics, musicians and comedians. Full details of all the exciting events are available at the Festival’s website here.

FOFI logoThe Festival is a not-for-profit event created and run by a group of volunteers for the love of football and art.

During my talk I also spoke about football’s link with literature in general, particularly books that have been bold enough to try and use football as a theme within a fictional narrative. The novels/novellas I discussed were:

The Damned United, by David Peace (2006)
Red or Dead, by David Peace (2013)
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, by Leonard R Gribble (1939)
The Thistle and the Grail, by Robin Jenkins (1954)
Shoot on Sight, by Michael Hardcastle (1967)
Goalkeepers Are Different, by Brian Glanville (1972)
How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The FA Cup, by JL Carr (1975)
A Book of Two Halves, edited by Nicholas Royle (1996)
Perfect Pitch series, edited by Simon Kuper (1997-99)
For Whom the Ball Rolls, by Ian Plenderleith (2001)
Heartland, by Anthony Cartwright (2009)

A review of my appearance on the Festival of Football Ideas official blog can be found here.

Chasing the Game is available now and can be ordered from the publisher Matador here, or on Amazon (paperback version) or ebook (just £1.99).

Appearing at FOFI this summer

I have been invited to speak about my new novel Chasing the Game at this summer’s Festival of Football Ideas (FOFI) in Bristol.

The two-week event, held on the eve of the 2014 World Cup, is a celebration of how literature, art, film, music and comedy can connect with football.

FOFI logoThe Festival will run each night from Friday 30 May – Saturday 14 June and will feature talks and performances from artists, writers, poets, academics, musicians and comedians. Full details of all the exciting events are available at the Festival’s website here.

My talk, at 7pm on Saturday 31 May, is within a section called ‘Altering the narrative’ and is titled ‘Chasing the Game – A Creative Twist on the Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy’.

Each evening will consist of two talks, split into two ‘halves’ of 45 minutes, with a half-time break – oranges are optional. Tickets for most events will be £5 and can be booked through the website from 25 April.

The Festival is a not-for-profit event created and run by a group of friends and volunteers for the love of football and art.

It will be held at The Planetarium based at the At-Bristol site. The event also has its own Twitter page, @Bristol_FOFI

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