Playing Hard

Playing Hard is a tribute to the power of play in all its forms — a searching personal account of how play, games, and sports sanctify life and give it meaning. In this moving and wide-ranging examination, Peter Unwin reflects on life and relationships through the countless acts of play and the many unexpected places it is found.

Through a shared love of games, the author reconnects with his terminally ill father and is exposed to the complexities of his father’s past, of his experience of war and violence, and of a different but equally powerful commitment to the life of play.

From Snakes-n-Ladders to shooting pool, to an improbable soccer game in the Sahara, to first memories of playing baseball under catalpa trees — Peter Unwin examines the irresistible urge to have fun, reminding us that to live is to play, and to play hard is to live well.

AUTHOR

Peter Unwin

Peter Unwin is the author of numerous books, including Life Without Death, shortlisted for the 2014 Trillium Book Award. He lives with his family in Toronto.

Reviews

As a sportsilliterate reader in possession of nothing approaching athleticism I nonetheless found Playing Hard irresistible In his eloquent prose Unwin has fashioned the rules of play into a moving elegy for the passing of time of a parent and of the life wellplayed
– Gail Sidonie obat Author Performer Founder of Youthwrite

Playing Hard is a beautifully written collection of personal essays examining family loss history and culture viewed through the language of sport which so often is also the language of men when conversations around a game are really conversations about everything else
– Stephen Brunt author of Facing Ali and Searching for Bobby Orr