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Personal Score

Sport, Culture, Identity
4.23 goodreads logo

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( 115 ratings, 23 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Personal Score by Ellen van Neerven explores the nuanced intersections of sport and identity within an educational and cultural framework. The author delves into the personal and collective experiences tied to sports, examining themes like race, gender, and belonging. Through insightful commentary, the book provides an engaging and reflective look at how sport impacts personal development and societal structures.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you’re interested in exploring contemporary Indigenous experiences and perspectives through a blend of poetry and personal reflection. The author offers a unique voice, weaving cultural identity and personal storytelling in a way that both educates and resonates emotionally.

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From an award-winning First Nations author, a ground-breaking examination of sport's troubled relationship with race, gender and sexuality.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From an award-winning First Nations author, a ground-breaking examination of sport's troubled relationship with race, gender and sexuality.

Award-winning writer Ellen van Neerven plays football from a young age, learning early on that sport can be a painful and exclusive world. The more they play, the more they realise about sport's troubled relationship with race, gender and sexualityβ€”and question what it means to play sport on stolen, sovereign land, especially in the midst of multiple environmental crises.

With emotional honesty and searing insight, van Neerven shines a light on sport on this continent from a queer First Nations perspective, revealing how some athletes have long challenged mainstream views and used their roles to effect change not only in their own realm, but in society more broadly.

Personal Score is a ground-breaking book that confirms, once again, van Neerven's unrivalled talent, courage and originality.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Personal Score by Ellen van Neerven is praised for its insightful exploration of the intersection between sport, identity, and colonialism, particularly from the perspective of First Nations people. The book blends personal memoir, history, journalism, and poetry to offer a rich analysis of the complexities in contemporary Australian sport, highlighting themes of race, gender, and sexuality. Critics appreciate van Neerven's ability to weave together varied narratives to provide a compelling examination of sport as both a tool for liberation and a battleground for cultural and social issues.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780702265853

Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 May 2023

Country: Australia

Imprint: University of Queensland Press

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 29.0mm

Width: 154.0mm

Height: 227.0mm

Weight: 486g

Pages: 320

About the Author

Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer of Mununjali Yugambeh and Dutch heritage. Ellen's first book, Heat and Light, was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and the NSW Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize. They have written two poetry collections- Comfort Food, which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize; and Throat, which won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, the Multicultural NSW Award and Book of the Year in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.

Also by Ellen van Neerven

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  • Shapeshifting
    A ground-breaking essay collection that shifts the shape of what First Nations writing can be and do in Australia today. Shapeshifting, co-edited by Jeanine Leane and Ellen van Neerven, is a wide-ranging collection of nonfiction by First Nations writers that breaks new ground. These lyric essays push the boundaries of nonfiction beyond the biographical or the academic, with pieces that...
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    Available
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  • Throat
    Irreverent and courageous, Throat is a fierce cry that fights to be heard. This is van Neerven's most powerful work yet. not in Aus, mate bad things don't happen here our beaches are open they are not places where bloodied mattresses burn Throat is the explosive second poetry collection from award-winning Mununjali Yugambeh writer Ellen van Neerven. Exploring love, language...
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  • Flock
    Curated and introduced by award-winning author Ellen van Neerven, Flock features luminous storytelling from leading Aboriginal writers, such as Tony Birch, Melissa Lucashenko and Tara June Winch, as well as some of the brightest new stars. This wide-ranging and captivating anthology showcases both the power of First Nations writing and the satisfaction of a good short story. Curated by award-winning...
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  • Heat and Light
    In this award-winning work of fiction, Ellen van Neerven takes her readers on a journey that is mythical, mystical and still achingly real. Over three parts, she takes traditional storytelling and gives it a unique, contemporary twist. In Heat, we meet several generations of the Kresinger family and the legacy left by the mysterious Pearl. In Water, van Neerven offers...
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  • Heat and Light
    Ellen van Neerven's award-winning collection of stories was inspired by the elements and is exceptionally imaginative and varied. In this award-winning work of fiction, Ellen van Neerven leads readers on a journey that is mythical, mystical, and still achingly real. Over three parts, van Neerven takes traditional storytelling and gives it a unique, contemporary twist. In Heat, we meet several...
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  • Unlimited Futures
    Unlimited Futures is an anthology of speculative, visionary fiction from 21 emerging and established First Nations writers and Black writers, reflecting visionary pasts, hopeful futures and the invisible ties between First Nations people and Black people. With works by Tuesday Atzinger, Flora A. Chol, Claire G. Coleman, Zena Cumpston, Lisa Fuller, Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi, Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, Chemutai Glasheen, Genevieve Grieves,...
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  • Comfort Food
    Following on from the success of her award-winning fiction debut, Heat and Light, Ellen van Neerven announces herself as a talented poet with this assured collection. Moving between places and cultures, Comfort Food explores identity, sovereignty, and the restless quest for love. Using food as her inspiration, van Neerven offers a cross-cultural vision of the exotic and the familiar. This...
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