Walcott takes a break from the typewriter
What does a player do when they have so much downtime due to injury? If you’re Theo Walcott, you ink a deal with Random House for a 4-book series of children’s books. The literature, aimed at readers aged 9-11, will focus on the young Arsenal winger’s career thus far, meaning presumably there is lots of thrilling chit-chat about his time riding the bench at the 2006 World Cup, and that epic game in Croatia where he notched a hat-trick.
Walcott is “working with a writer” on the books, though the identity of his collaborator is being kept a closely guarded secret. Honestly, I’m not sure why; either the writer is some Philip Roth-esque professional fallen on hard times, or they’re JK Rowling, though I’m guessing it’s either his best friend or it’s Arsene Wenger.
From the article: “The series is due to launch in April 2010, and follows hot on the heels of a series from Walcott’s predecessor on England’s right wing, David Beckham, which kicked off earlier this year. The first two titles in Walcott’s story are due to chart the arrival of a boy who shares Walcott’s childhood nickname, TJ, at a new school. Even though he’s never played a proper football match before in his life, TJ falls in with a group of children who love football.”
Best of luck to you in the literary world, Theo, though as Precious Roy quipped in our emails, Walcott’s writing should beware the Arsenal injury curse; word just filtered down that Chapter 2 pulled something and will be out 4-6 weeks.
So he’s writing books for the market demographic of which he himself is a member?
Is the reason they write for kids because they want to or because that’s the level of writing they are capable of (if even that)?
See Jack kick.
Kick Jack, kick.
See Jack dive.
Dive Jack, dive.