ON TOUR FOR TWO DAYS ONLY MONDAY 26 & TUESDAY 27 MAY 2008
BOYCOTT: THE UNTOLD STORY…
AUSTRALIA’S CONTROVERSIAL ROAD TO THE MOSCOW OLYMPICS
Boycott by former Olympian Lisa Forrest is The Sunday Times Big Book Club selection for May 2008. It is a meticulously researched and compelling exploration of one of the most important episodes in our sporting past. The story behind Australia’s controversial involvement in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
THE BOOK
Swimming star Lisa Forrest was only sixteen years old when she found herself at the centre of one of Australia's most significant sporting and political moments, the controversial boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
Lisa tells her story for the first time, taking us from her early strokes in the local pool of a Sydney beachside suburb, to death threats and public denunciation by both politicians and the media. With interviews from the significant players, including politicians Malcolm Fraser and his minister for Home Affairs Bob Ellicott, executives of the Australian Olympic Federation, sports officials, journalists and the athletes themselves, Lisa ventures behind the scenes of an extraordinary and far-reaching chapter in Australian sporting history.
In a time when our amateur athletes struggled to compete in an increasingly professional arena, Boycott is the moving story of those athletes who fought the government, the public, the media and each other in order to fulfil their dream, and uphold their belief that the Olympic Games is about peace, not politics and chose to follow their dream.
THE AUTHOR
Lisa Forrest was Captain of the Australian female swimming team in 1980. Today Lisa is one of Australia’s most popular media figures. In 1986 she was the first woman to front a national TV sports show, and since then has appeared on the Midday Show, the ABC TV health programme Everybody, The Fat and Beauty and the Beast. Lisa Forrest has commentated at Olympic and Commonwealth Games and presented a nightly show on ABC Radio, Sydney. In addition Lisa Forrest was a presenter/interviewer for Qantas’ in-flight audio program A Current of Air. Lisa Forrest studied acting in New York, appeared in the Network 10 drama series Medivac, and starred in the David Williamson play Travelling North.
The Sunday Times Big Club aims are to promote the love of reading, encourage readers to give other titles that they might not necessary read a go, support emerging and established West Australian and Australian authors and facilitate the bringing together of authors, libraries, communities, and booksellers in both regional and metropolitan areas.
The Sunday Times Big Club is proudly supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body, 720 ABC Perth and ABC Local Radio WA,The State Library of Western Australia, in association with WA public libraries, The Sunday Times, and participating booksellers.
Meet and hear Lisa Forrest at the following Sunday Times Big Book Club literary events
MONDAY 26 MAY
Hosted by Spearwood Library (City of Cockburn)
Time: 8am to 9.30am
Venue: Spearwood Public Library, 9 Coleville Cres, Spearwood
Cost: Free includes refreshments
Booking no: Library on 08 9411 3491
Contact: Luba Kambourakis on 08 9411 3491 or luba@cockburn.wa.gov.au
Bookseller: Barb Christopher, Collins Bookseller & ABC Centre, Success on (08) 94993331
Hosted by Esperance Public Library
Time: 7pm to 9pm
Venue: Senior Citizens' Centre, Forrest Street, Esperance.
Cost: $5 includes light supper and drinks
Booking no: Library on 9083 1500
Contact: Jayne Arnold on 98 9083 1500, library@esperance.wa.gov.au
Bookseller: Sally Burston, Le Grand Bookshop, Esperance on (08) 9071-7829
TUESDAY 27 MAY
Hosted by City of Perth Library
Time: 2.30pm to 4.00pm
Venue: Lover ground floor, 573 Hay St, Perth
Cost: Free, refreshments included
Booking no: Library on 9461 3573
Contact: Barbara Lovell on 08 9461 3576 or perth.library@cityofperth.wa.gov.au
Bookseller: Dymocks Perth on (08) 9321-3969, hay.street@dymocks.com.au
Web: http://www.perth.wa.gov.
Hosted by Wanneroo Public Library
Time: 7:00pm to 8.30pm
Venue: Girrawheen Public Library, 6 Patrick Court Girrawheen - tbc
Cost: Free, Cheese & Wine affair included
Booking no: Library on 9405 4433
Contact: Jessica Madureira on 9405 5510, Jess.Madureira@Wanneroo.wa.gov.au
Bookseller: James Brown, Dymocks Morley on (08) 9276-7500 – TO BE CONFIRMED
For more details visit www.thebigbookclub.com.au
Sunday Times Big Book Club May Selection
posted in Events on 2008-05-08