Griffith Review 53

Sport lies at the heart of what it means to be Australian.

Our Sporting Life will examine what this really means as the role of sport within the national psyche shifts with the development of our country. It is timed to coincide with the finals season and the Rio Olympics, and will enrich the sporting experience, leaving something to think about once the final siren has sounded.

Featuring Griffith Review’s usual blend of outstanding essays, memoir, fiction and photography, Our Sporting Life will bring insider reports from major sporting events and minor sporting communities; it will investigate the links between sport and business, sport and culture, sport and social cohesion; the life of the athlete and the passion of the spectator. It will examine betting, doping and corruption; race, gender and violence in (and around) sport; as well as positive stories of sport in regional and rural Australia and beyond.

From Olympia to Alice Springs, from the opening bounce to the close of play, from sports fields to board rooms, from cutting edge strategy to kitchen table yarns, Our Sporting Life will include outstanding sports writers and those who have been involved in the many sports-related industries.

A close examination of what sport means beyond the thrill of the competition and the desire to win.

Julianne Schultz AM FAHA is the founding editor of Griffith Review, the award-winning literary and public affairs quarterly journal.