In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to Nico Walker, author of the novel Cherry. 

We discuss Nico Walker’s essay ‘Mucker Play’, published in Granta 170: Winners, which considers American football as a reflection of the country’s violence, the intimate relationship between the military and sport, and how athletes cultivate their public image, from Deion Sanders to Jim Thorpe.

Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New Left Review, among other publications. His first novel will be published in 2025. 

Josie Mitchell is senior editor at Granta. 

Thomas Meaney is the editor of Granta.