
In "There's Always This Year," MacArthur genius Hanif Abdurraqib transforms basketball into poetry, exploring how LeBron's rise mirrors our own dreams of ascension. "The sharpest writing of his career," raves bestselling author Shea Serrano - a love letter to hoops that transcends the court.
Hanif Abdurraqib, the National Book Award-longlisted author of There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, is a celebrated poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio.
Blending memoir with incisive social commentary, this genre-defying work explores themes of belonging, mortality, and Black identity through the lens of basketball—a passion rooted in his upbringing in a city shaped by the sport.
A 2021 MacArthur Fellow, Abdurraqib is renowned for award-winning works like A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance (winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal) and the bestselling Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest (National Book Award longlist).
His essays and criticism regularly appear in The New Yorker and The New York Times, cementing his status as a leading voice on music, race, and American culture. They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us and A Fortune for Your Disaster—both critical darlings and reader favorites—further showcase his lyrical precision and emotional depth.
There’s Always This Year continues his streak of literary acclaim, earning praise for its innovative structure and profound reflections on community and legacy.
There's Always This Year explores basketball’s cultural significance through memoir, lyrical essays, and social commentary. Hanif Abdurraqib reflects on 1990s Ohio, legends like LeBron James, and the tension between success and unfulfilled potential. The book weaves personal stories about fatherhood, community, and identity with broader critiques of American expectations and resilience.
Fans of Abdurraqib’s previous award-winning works (A Little Devil in America, Go Ahead in the Rain) and readers interested in sports-as-metaphor will appreciate this book. It resonates with those exploring race, belonging, and the interplay between individual ambition and collective identity. Basketball enthusiasts and memoir lovers will find its blend of history and autobiography compelling.
Yes—critics praise its emotional depth, lyrical prose, and innovative structure. Described as “mesmerizing” and “a clarion call to reimagine culture,” it combines basketball history with intimate reflections on family and failure. Ideal for readers seeking nuanced narratives about race, aspiration, and the Midwest’s cultural legacy.
Key themes include:
Basketball frames discussions of marginalization, perseverance, and collective joy. Abdurraqib likens the sport’s rhythm to personal growth—examining how players (and individuals) navigate “making it” in systems stacked against them. The court becomes a space to dissect race, economic struggle, and fleeting triumphs.
While direct quotes aren’t provided in sources, Abdurraqib’s standout lines include reflections like:
Like A Little Devil in America (Black performance) and Go Ahead in the Rain (music history), this book uses cultural touchstones to explore identity. However, it deepens his focus on geography—Ohio’s influence on his worldview—and blends memoir with sharper critiques of systemic inequality.
Abdurraqib interrogates how Black athletes and communities navigate exploitation and adoration. He contrasts LeBron James’ mythmaking with everyday Ohioans’ struggles, arguing that Black success is often conditional and tethered to others’ expectations.
The book alternates between essayistic critiques, poetic vignettes, and autobiographical segments. Chapters mirror basketball’s pacing—short bursts of insight, halftime-like reflections, and climactic analyses of legacy. This nonlinear approach mirrors the unpredictability of sports and life.
Hailed as “a triumph” (Steve James, Hoop Dreams director), it’s praised for its originality and emotional resonance. Critics highlight its seamless blend of personal narrative and cultural analysis, cementing Abdurraqib’s reputation as a leading voice in contemporary nonfiction.
Ohio—particularly 1990s Columbus—anchors the narrative. Abdurraqib portrays it as a microcosm of American contradictions: a place of communal pride and racialized limitations, where basketball courts become sites of hope and disillusionment.
Abdurraqib contrasts public figures like LeBron with personal stories about his father’s fleeting presence. He questions who society elevates as “role models” and how absence shapes aspirations, arguing that mentorship is often found in unexpected places.
Sinta o livro através da voz do autor
Transforme conhecimento em insights envolventes e ricos em exemplos
Capture ideias-chave em um instante para aprendizado rápido
Aproveite o livro de uma forma divertida e envolvente
Anyone wishing to tame their flourish was his enemy.
Humans make gods out of men because they need tangible deities.
This shared ritual showed how a city has started to become your city.
He understood that anyone wishing to tame their flourish was his enemy.
Divida as ideias-chave de There's Always This Year em pontos fáceis de entender para compreender como equipes inovadoras criam, colaboram e crescem.
Destile There's Always This Year em dicas de memória rápidas que destacam os princípios-chave de franqueza, trabalho em equipe e resiliência criativa.

Experimente There's Always This Year através de narrativas vívidas que transformam lições de inovação em momentos que você lembrará e aplicará.
Pergunte qualquer coisa, escolha a voz e co-crie insights que realmente ressoem com você.

Criado por ex-alunos da Universidade de Columbia em San Francisco
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Criado por ex-alunos da Universidade de Columbia em San Francisco

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December 2002. Three days after Christmas. White tourists edge nervously through a Columbus neighborhood, their eyes scanning telephone wires where shoes dangle like strange ornaments. To them, those shoes mean drugs, danger, territory. To those who live here, they might be a memorial-a young basketball player recently shot, someone whose name deserves to be remembered. Tonight, everyone's heading to Value City Arena, where LeBron James and his Akron team will face Columbus's Brookhaven Wildcats. The crowd will outnumber an Ohio State game played earlier that day. This isn't just basketball-it's about who gets witnessed, who gets remembered, and who decides what stories matter.