Playing Hard is a tribute to the power of play in all its forms — a searching personal account of how play, games, and sports sanctify life and give it meaning. In this moving and wide-ranging examination, Peter Unwin reflects on life and relationships through countless acts of play and the many unexpected places it is found.

Through a shared love of games, the author reconnects with his terminally ill father and is exposed to the complexities of his father’s past, of his experiences with war and violence, and of a different but equally powerful commitment to a life of play.

From Snakes and Ladders to shooting pool, from an improbable soccer game in the Sahara to first memories of playing baseball under catalpa trees — Peter Unwin examines the irresistible urge to have fun, reminding us that to live is to play, and to play hard is to live well.

“Playing Hard is a beautifully written collection of personal essays examining family, loss, history and culture viewed through the language of sport — which so often is also the language of men, when conversations around a game are really conversations about everything else.” -- Stephen Brunt, author of Facing Ali and Searching for Bobby Orr

“Playing Hard is a moving personal document that asserts ‘the sportsman’s belief that even the very worst things that happen to us in life can be healed by play.’ Unwin celebrates sport as a unifying element, underscoring its inherent value across generations and throughout lifetimes. Ultimately, play has the power to buoy and unite us, and, as the collection attests, can act as a means of keeping us and our histories alive.”

“Intimately personal and yet with a universal resonance, Playing Hard: A Life and Death in Games, Sports, and Play is a simply riveting memoir that also offers thoughtful and thought-provoking insights and commentaries on the role of all manner of sports related competition on his (and our own) life. Absorbing, entertaining, exceptional, original, and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library American Biography/Memoir collections …”

Peter Unwin is the author of ten books, as well as essays, short stories, and poems. He has been thrice shortlisted for the ReLit Award and his short story collection Life Without Death was shortlisted for the 2014 Trillium Book Award. His articles, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous journals and magazines. Peter recently completed a PhD in the Humanities at York University.