''Sport'' was a New Zealand literary magazine, edited and published by

Fergus Barrowman Fergus Barrowman (born 1961) is a New Zealand publisher and literary commentator. He has been the publisher at Victoria University Press since 1985. Career In addition to running Victoria University Press, Barrowman also edited and published t ...

. It was founded in 1988 and ran until 2019.

History

Barrowman co-founded the magazine in 1988 with Elizabeth Knox, Damien Wilkins, and Nigel Cox, with support from

Bill Manhire William Manhire (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Well ...

, Alan Preston and Andrew Masonin. Barrowman said in an interview in 2012 that the name ''Sport'' was intended to be a joke but that it had caused confusion: "There are lots of cultured types who've never got close enough to the magazine to know what it is, and it's hell to explain overseas. I still get misdirected orders and submissions". At various times ''Sport'' was co-edited or guest-edited by James Brown, Catherine Chidgey,

Gregory O'Brien Gregory Leo O’Brien (born 1961) is a New Zealand poet, painter and editor. Life Born in Matamata in 1961, O'Brien trained as a journalist in Auckland and worked as a newspaper reporter in Northland. He graduated from the University of Auckl ...

, Sara Knox, Lara Strongman, Andrew Johnston, and

Sally-Ann Spencer Sally-Ann Spencer is a British translator, specialising in German literature. She studied languages at Cambridge University before going to work in the publishing industry. In 2005, she moved to New Zealand, at the same time choosing literary tr ...

. It was published twice a year until November 2003, at which point it began being published annually.

Controversy over Creative New Zealand defunding

In 2013,

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

(CNZ) announced that the magazine's yearly application for funding was unsuccessful, ending CNZ's long-term support over the last 40 issues. The announcement produced a quick reaction from a number of prominent New Zealand writers, such as

Eleanor Catton Eleanor Catton (born 24 September 1985) is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International In ...

and

Emily Perkins Emily Jean Perkins (born May 4, 1977) is a Canadian former actress, best known for her roles as Crystal Braywood in the TV series ''Hiccups'', young Beverly Marsh in '' Stephen King's It'', and Brigitte Fitzgerald in ''Ginger Snaps''. Since the l ...

. Fergus Barrowman said in an interview on Radio New Zealand that although he had been approached with various offers of additional funding, and people had suggested he crowdfunds the journal's operations, he was wary of adding to the yearly workload of producing the journal if it was forced to rely on non-CNZ funding. Despite the withdrawal of CNZ funding, the magazine released ''Sport'' issue 42 in March 2014, and continued to publish annually until 2019.

Anthology and closure

The anthology ''A Game of Two Halves: The best of Sport 2005-2019'' was published in November 2021. At the time of its publication, Barrowman confirmed that there would be no further issues of ''Sport'' following the 2019 edition, ''Sport 47''.

Legacy and influence

The magazine was described by fellow-

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

publication '' Salient'' as "A bedrock of new New Zealand fiction, essays and poetry." It published the first works of

and Catherine Chidgey, as well as being an early publisher of

Kate Flannery Kate Destiny Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Sh ...

, Annamarie Jagose, Chris Orsman and Peter Wells. In 2008,

's work first appeared in ''Sport'', before the publication of her first novel '' The Rehearsal''.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.sportmagazine.co.nz/
''Sport''
on the

New Zealand Electronic Text Centre The New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC; mi, Te Pūhikotuhi o Aotearoa) is a freely accessible online archive of New Zealand and Pacific Islands texts and heritage materials that are held by the Victoria University of Wellington Librar ...