Summer Reads 2011: about Katie Kitamura

Synopsis:

Cal was the one. The kid had everything a fighter needed and if he didn't become a champion then Riley would have no one to blame but himself…

Cal and his long-standing friend and trainer Riley are on their way to Mexico for a make-or-break rematch with the legendary Rivera, who has never been beaten. Four years ago, Cal became the only fighter to ever take Rivera the distance, even though it nearly ended him. Only Riley, who has been at his side for the last ten years, knows how much that fight changed everything for Cal. And only Riley really knows what's now at stake, for both of them…

 

Selected Quotes:

'Hemingway's returned to life -- and this time, he's a woman'
--Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder and Men in Space

‘An extraordinary novel from a major new talent.’
--Hari Kunzru

'The Longshot is an acutely well balanced novel: deft, subtle and hard-hitting all at once. ..heartbreakingly acute…I am knocked out.’
--Ekow Eshun

'A terrific debut: charged, intimate, raw. Here is an author who not only understands the alloying of muscle and mentality in sport, the elation and heartbreak of competition, and of life, but can also write about it all with compassion and beautiful austerity'
--Sarah Hall, author of The Electric Michaelangelo and the Carhullan Army

Author Biography:

Katie Kitamura is a writer based in London and New York. She was educated at Princeton University (A.B.) and University of London (MRes, PhD). She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the London Consortium. She has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Guardian. Her first book, a memoir called Japanese for Travellers, was published in the UK (Hamish Hamilton) in 2006. She served as Creative Consultant on The Pervert's Guide To Cinema (2006), a three-part documentary series commissioned by Channel 4 Television and featuring philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek. She is currently producing a follow-up film, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology.

Other books by Katie Kitamura:

The Longshot is Katie Kitamura’s debut novel