INTRODUCTION TO NONFICTION: LONG-FORM SPORTS WRITING

Wright Thompson, Gay Talese, John McPhee, all prominent writers that began their careers as sports journalists. With that in mind, this course looks at long-form sports writing. We’ll focus on questions like: what’s the difference between sports journalism and long-form? What is sport? And how do we document the stories and people involved in sport? Along with the reading, we’ll also look at the rise of sport documentaries (ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, All or Nothing), how they are put together, as well as the documentaries implications for the writer.   

Projected course materials: The Cost of These Dreams: Sports Stories and Other Serious Business by Wright Thompson, The Circuit by Rowan Ricardo Phillips, A Sense of Where You Are by John McPhee, A Kind of Grace: A Treasury of Sportswriting by Women by Ron Rapoport. These texts will be supplemented with additional readings as well as with selected episodes from ESPN’s 30 for 30 series and the Amazon original All or Nothing series.