The Sports Bookshelf

Proud, the book in which Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas describes the anguish that drove him close to suicide before he decided to end years of deceit and admit to his homosexuality, has been voted Sports Book of the Year for 2015 in an online poll. Published by Ebury, Proud won Best Autobiography at the Cross British Sports Book Awards   2015 before all 10 category winners at the annual prizegiving event were thrown open to readers to name their choice for the overall top sports title of the last 12 months. Written with journalist and sportswriter Michael Calvin, who also won last year’s overall prize for his book, The Nowhere Men , Proud has been described as a breathtakingly moving and inspirational story. Thomas for many years seemed to epitomise the macho culture of rugby. Known by his nickname 'Alfie', Thomas had cultivated the image of hard-drinking hellraiser to which rugby players were almost expected to conform.  Ironically, the publicity accompanying his f

Bobby Moore: The Man in Full is Biography of the Year Thirty-One Nil is best Football Book Cricket Book award goes to Wounded Tiger Gareth Thomas's Proud is Autobiography of the Year Gareth Thomas, Matt Dickinson, James Montague, Richard Parks, Peter Oborne, Alastair Down, Herbie Sykes, Bill Jones and Anna Krien were recognised for their outstanding contributions to sports literature at the 2015 British Sports Book Awards, sponsored by pen makers Cross. They were the headline winners at a ceremony hosted by broadcaster and former cricketer Jonathan Agnew at Lord's cricket ground in London. Gareth Thomas, the former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain who played both Rugby Union and Rugby League in a glittering career, won the Autobiography of the Year prize for Proud (Ebury Press), written with the help of journalist and author Michael Calvin, which tells the story of how Thomas found the courage to admit to being gay in the macho world of rugby.

Triple nomination for Roy Keane bestseller Bobby Moore: The Man in Full also named in three categories Trueman author Waters in contention with 10 for 10 Townsend's The Sure Thing stands out among racing books The shortlists for the 2015 British Sports Book Awards include some predictable nominations as well as some that did not make the bestseller lists but win some well deserved recognition. Familiar titles include The Second Half, the memoir penned on Roy Keane's behalf by Booker Prize-winning novelist Roddy Doyle, which is nominated in three categories. Other well-known names among this year's 10 categories include rugby stars Brian O’Driscoll, whose The Test is shortlisted for  Rugby Book of the Year and Autobiography sections, and Gareth Thomas, also nominated in Rugby and Autobiography for Proud, on which he collaborated with Michael Calvin, whose own book, The Nowhere Men , won the Football category and the vote for overall Sports Book of