On February 28th, 2017, FSF stalwart David Kilpatrick joined the group to discuss his book of soccer poetry: Obrigado: A Futebol Epic. Obrigado offers a poetic take on the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, with a poem from each of the sixty-four matches plus an introductory poem: “an epic narrative of heroic emergence from conflicts between nations, promoting cosmopolitan awareness through the spirit of play.”
David began by sharing the experience of planning and writing the book during the 2014 World Cup. He talked about the literary influences and devices present in his poetry and the difficulty in writing during the compressed drama of a one-month tournament. Participants asked about the book’s structure, themes, adventures in language, and the wider relationship between football and art. Our conversation also touched on the study of soccer’s history and how it influences the production of poetry
Participants included: Andrew Guest, Danyel Reiche, Brenda Elsey, Laurent Dubois, Steven Apostolov, Itamar Dubinsky, Alon Raab, Alex Galarza, and Peter Alegi.
Audio of the session can be found here (for personal and educational use only).
