My Story

Growing up, I loved sports (and have tried my hand at most of them) and getting lost in a book, but for a long time, they existed in completely separate worlds. My bookshelves were full of wizards and criticisms of capitalism and child spies. Stories I loved. But sport was rarely mentioned, and when it was, it was never centre stage: perhaps a secondary character was missing form a chapter because they were at football practice, or a story set in a boarding school would make a passing comment about their netball / lacrosse / hockey team.

I studied children's literature at university, which only deepened my conviction that the books we read as children and into adulthood matter - not just for the stories they tell, but for who they show us we can be. Later, I worked in a school with children with SEN. Most of them hated reading. But for the vast majority, things shifted a little when football got involved. I believe, genuinely, in the magic of reading - but only when the right book finds the right reader.

That's what this collection is about. Just over a year ago, I started compiling a list of books about women's football, because on the surface, the options were surprisingly thin on the ground. That list grew - into other sports, other formats, other ages - and eventually became The Missing Sportswomen.

How do I find / choose books

Calling it an "approach" is perhaps generous. When looking for football fiction, I started on Waterstones, looking at every title tagged as "football". That took a long time, and for reasons I now better understand, was nowhere near comprehensive. So I turned to google keyword searches, Reddit, the National Library, trade publications. When I'm in an organsied mood I try to cover off whole sports, but more often than not, I just follow my nose. Interestingly, AI has proven pretty poor at accumulating titles, with the same big hitters coming up over and over again.

I quite quickly hit upon some key questions I had to answer. The MVP version of this site didn't include sports which are better represented (think equestrian, ice skating, dance), but with time I have come to add these too. Next up was how to determine if a book could be classified as being about a female athlete. Does a seconday character who is a female count? What if they're only tertiary? What if the protagonist is a male? What do we do about sports like skiing and swimmming where these are sometimes considered recreational rather than a sport? What about ex-athlete turned coaches?

In general, I've adopted an inclusive approach: not all girls who play sports have to dedicate their life to it, and incidental representation is important because it mirrors the way sport actually functions for most girls — as something they do, not something that defines them.

An important aside: The views expressed in the books featured on this site are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect my own opinions or beliefs.