Musa Okwonga

A nameless narrator arrives in Berlin, a city famed for its hedonism, to find peace and maybe also love. Yet he soon discovers that the problems which have long haunted him are there, too, and more present than ever. He drifts through this endlessly addictive and at times mystical city, through its slow days and bottomless nights, wondering whether he will ever escape his turbulent past and arrive at a future free of his fear of failure, persecution, and intimacy. Conceived by Ugandan-British poet, writer, and journalist Musa Okwonga, the book is a journey of loss and self-acceptance that stretches from Berlin all the way to a quiet village on the Uganda-Sudan border.

In the End, it was All about Love

Musa Okwonga – a young Black man who grew up in a predominantly working-class town – was not your typical Eton College student. The experience moulded him, challenged him... but also made him wonder why a place that was so good for him also seems to contribute to the harm being done to the UK. The more he searched, the more evident the connection became between one of Britain’s most prestigious institutions and the genesis of Brexit, and between his home town in the suburbs of Greater London and the rise of the far right. Woven throughout this deeply personal and unflinching memoir of Musa’s five years at Eton in the 1990s is a present-day narrative which engages with much wider questions about pressing social and political issues: privilege, the distribution of wealth, the rise of the far right in the UK, systemic racism, the ‘boys’ club’ of government and the power of the few to control the fate of the many. One of Them is both an intimate account and a timely exploration of race and class in modern Britain.

An Eton College Memoir

One of Them

Was macht es mit dir, in eine fremde Stadt zu kommen? Wie fängst du das Leben dort an? Und wie schaffst du es, deine Vergangenheit, deine Gegenwart und deine Zukunft in Einklang zu bringen? Der britisch-ugandische Autor Musa Okwonga erzählt in seinem autofiktionalen Roman davon, wie es ist, in Berlin anzukommen und sich dort als Person of Colour zurechtzufinden, wie es ist, Freund*innen zu finden, Fußball zu spielen, sich zu verlieben und wieder zu trennen, die Magie des Voodoos zu erfahren, Kuchen zu essen und als Autor zu arbeiten. Es ging immer nur um Liebe ist ein berührender, persönlicher und poetischer Text über Dating, Liebe und Sexualität, über Rassismus und Entfremdung, über Verlust und Selbstakzeptanz. Und über die Suche nach einer Heimat, nach einem Ort, an dem man sich wohl und geborgen fühlt und an dem Hautfarbe keine Rolle spielt, irgendwo zwischen Uganda, London und Berlin. »Er macht das, was die besten Autoren tun: Er schreibt mit dem Herzen. Ich bin Fan.« Ed Sheeran »Musa ist präzise und allumfassend zugleich. Seine Poesie ist intim und klug, leidenschaftlich und schön.« Kae Tempest »Faszinierend und tief bewegend. Klug, großzügig und erschütternd präzise.« Elif Shafak

Es ging immer nur um Liebe

Simon Kuper

Michael Cox

David Winner

Philippe Auclair

Jonathan Wilson

Gabriele Marcotti

Tim Vickery

Igor Rabiner

John Sinnott

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication, put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors, its main aim to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them. Issue Three Contents -------------- Spartak -------------- * Fallen Idol, by Igor Rabiner—The decline of Spartak Moscow is inextricably bound up with the fortunes of their former coach, Oleg Romantsev -------------- Interview -------------- * Zagallo and Tostão—Mario Zagallo and Tostão talk to Tim Vickery about 1970, Pelé and the Brazilian style ------------------------- New Beginnings ------------------------- * A Crisis of Legitimacy, by Brian Oliver—Kenyan clubs are leading the fight against corruption in their football association * For Richer, For Poorer, by Shaul Adar—How nationalism has shaped the rise and fall of Beitar Jerusalem ----------------------------- In Appreciation of... ----------------------------- * Angelo Di Livio, by Michael Cox—How the midfielder's loyalty inspired Fiorentina's return from bankruptcy ------------ Theory ------------ * The Mind has Mountains, by Lars Sivertsen—Egil Olsen talks about his conception of the game, Wimbledon and geographical trivia * The Harmony of the Sphere, by Philippe Auclair—An exploration of the links between football and music * Smash and Thunder, by Alexander Jackson—How a change of approach helped Newcastle cast off their chokers tag in the 1910 FA Cup final * The Head Case, by John Sinnott—Standard Liège's Michel Bruyninckx leads the way in developing footballers' mental capacity -------------------- Foreign Soil -------------------- * The Bomb and the Bowler Hat, by Barney Ronay—How modern football was shaped in an internment camp in Berlin * Tour of Duty, by Davidde Corran—With the Vietnam War at its height, Australia sent a team to play in a tournament in Saigon * The Kennedy Conundrum, by Paul Doyle—Ireland's 1986 tour of Iceland brough their first international trophy, but ended an international career * The Midfield, by David Ashton—A veteran remembers the no-man's-land football of the First World War * The Youth of Today, by Jonathan Wilson—Clouds, clubs and the collective: reflections on the Under-20 World Cup --------------- Polemics --------------- * Comparing Apple with Oranje, by Simon Kuper and David Winner—Were Johan Cruyff and Ajax the John Lennon and Beatles of Amsterdam? * The Race Card, by Gabriele Marcotti—Racist chanting is deplorable, but does the rush to condemn it obscure deeper issues? * The Dawson's Creek Principle, by Musa Okwonga—Could it be that a US teen drama helps explain anomalies of football history? * What's a Vote Worth?, by Steve Menary—How Fifa's attempts to devolve power could be a bribers' charter --------------------------- Football Manager --------------------------- * The Ballad of Bobby Manager: My Autobiography", by Iain Macintosh—When somebody takes their game of Football Manager just a little too seriously... -------------------------- Greatest Games -------------------------- * Denmark 4 USSR 2, by Janus Køster-Rasmussen—World Cup qualifier, Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, 5 June 1985 ------------------ Eight Bells ------------------ * Great Finishes in Japan, by Ben Mabley—A selection of the most gripping climaxes to the J.League and JSL season

The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly: Issue Three

Be inspired by Football Legend, Raheem Sterling! Discover the inspirational story of this young player's journey from his early life in Jamaica to life as a young immigrant in north-west London, where his incredible football talent put him on the road to superstardom. Packed with footie factsand match statsplus Raheem's career highlights. Football Legends: Young readers will love finding out all about the lives of their favourite players in this great new biography series.

Raheem Sterling (Football Legends #1)

Breaking down the job of soccer management into its different components and showing exactly what skills the great managers have

The Necessary Skills to Be a Great Gaffer

Will You Manage?

The first children's book from superstar England striker, Ian Wright. Striking Out follows the journey of 13-year-old Jerome, who has a dream of becoming a world-class footballer. But with a difficult home life, Jerome can’t see how he’ll ever make this dream come true ... until he meets a mentor figure who can hopefully put him on the right track. From the winning writing team of Musa Okwonga and Ian Wright. Musa Okwonga is an author, poet, journalist and musician; he is a co-host of the Stadio football podcast. Ian Wright is one of the UK’s all-time leading goal scorers. He’s lifted the Premier League title, The FA Cup, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and won the Premier League golden boot.

Striking Out

"Bloody obvious isn't it: tell the defenders to route one out to Drogba" "That's what they've been doing all night and look where it's got them" "The final ball has just not been weighted enough; in any case, his touch is too heavy" "120,000 a week and look how little they put themselves about" "Players today are mercenaries: in my day they lived and died for their local team. It was a way of life: now it's just a cheque at the end of the month" blah, blah, blah... Every weekend in pubs and living-rooms all over the country, women and (mainly) men discuss the day's games and how they could have done better than the cretinous manager. Few people think they can fix their leaking sink better than a plumber or defend their dodgy cousin better than a barrister and yet every Tom, Dick and Harriett is convinced that they can do a better job than their team's manager. Why is this? In Will You Manage?, Musa Okwonga breaks down the job of football management into its different components and shows exactly what skills the great managers have. He interviews big and little cheeses on the football scene and provides essential tips for Fantasy Football success. As a new season gets underway and managerial heads begin to roll, the reader of Will You Manage? will deservedly have a knowing/sickening smirk on his face.

Musa Okwonga

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