Yellow Jersey to publish six George Plimpton sports 'classics'

Yellow Jersey Press is publishing six classics of sports writing by founder of The Paris Review George Plimpton to mark the 50th anniversary of Paper Lion (Hachette), an American football book that "set the bar for participatory sports journalism".

Frances Jessop, commissioning editor at Yellow Jersey Press, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein to Plimpton's Paper Lion, Shadow Box, The Bogey Man, Open Net, Mad Ducks and Bear and Out of my League.

Plimpton, who died in 2003, was the author and editor of nearly 30 books, as well as the co-founder, publisher, and editor of The Paris Review, and wrote regularly for such magazines as Sports Illustrated and Esquire.

All six books will be published in paperback and e-book on 4th August at £9.99. They cover a range of American sports, including American football (Paper Lion, Mad Ducks and Bears), boxing (Shadow Box), golf (The Bogey Man), baseball (Out of My League) and ice hockey (Open Net).

Jessop said: "Somehow these books haven’t been published in the UK for a long time, or in some cases, at all, so it’s a cause for celebration to introduce a new generation of readers to the delightful George Plimpton. Paper Lion is a bona fide non-fiction classic and all six books are a masterclass in sports writing. It’s a real honour for Yellow Jersey to be the UK publisher of these insightful, wise and very entertaining books."