'Headshot' follows 8 teenage girls into the boxing ring

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Eight young women are competing at the 12th Annual Women's 18 and Under Daughters of America Cup, a boxing competition at the heart of Headshot. Each girl has her reasons for fighting her way to this ring in Reno, Las Vegas — and Rita Bullwinkel's debut novel is a searing look inside the mental and physical state of her protagonists. In today's episode, the author speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how her own childhood as a polo player informed her writing, and why she chose to follow her characters way beyond their time in the ring.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Time feels different inside a boxing
0:08.0	ring. You know, I've never even sparred against another person, but when I used to hit up a boxing gym,
0:13.3	three minutes in the ring with the trainer felt elastic. You know, like it lasted forever,
0:18.6	but when it was over, it felt like not nearly enough time.
0:22.5	Rita Bullwinkle is on the pot today. Her new novel is titled Headshot, and in it, she tries to play with time in a similar way through the structure of the book.
0:30.4	It's about these teenage girl boxers who bring all of their baggage into the ring.
0:34.9	And in this interview with NPR Scott and Simon, she talks about how a fight is its own form of communication.
0:41.6	That's after the break.
0:43.4	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:54.8	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand
0:59.3	why distant events matter here at home.
1:02.4	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:08.2	Headshot is a knockout of a novel.
1:11.6	It follows the hearts, minds, and gloved knuckles of eight teenage girls
1:15.4	in the 12th annual Women's 18 and Underdaughters of America Cup,
1:20.1	which takes place at Bob's Boxing Palace in Reno,
1:23.2	which, let's just put it this way, is not the sphere in Las Vegas.
1:28.5	The contestants have both a lot in common and just about nothing.
1:33.2	In her short, hard-punching novel, Rita Bullwinkle manages to capture the girls and scenes and phrases from childhood into the ring, then out into that bigger ring called Life.
1:45.0	Rita Bullwinkle is an assistant professor of English at the University of San Francisco and also
1:49.8	the new editor of McSweeney's Quarterly. Thank you so much for being with us.
1:55.1	Oh my gosh, Scott. Thank you so much for having me.
	...

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