Tim Bascom spent half his childhood in Kansas and the other half in East Africa. Living and traveling around the world, the game of soccer proved a constant truth. Through storytelling that effortlessly flows between poignant and funny, sobering and charming, Bascom explores why soccer matters so much in our common, everyday lives, and how this ordinary yet extraordinary game can bring us all a little closer together. Bascom describes how soccer brought him sanity in the middle of a brutal revolution in Ethiopia and how bridging divisions of race and culture was key to success for teams he joined in Chicago and Kansas. From watching Arsenal’s energetic rise in the Premier League to the bravery of a besieged Afghanistan Women’s National Team, and from pickup games in the Midwest and the Middle East, Bascom finds universal truths and deeply human meaning in the beautiful game of soccer.
About the Author :
Tim Bascom, who spent half his childhood in Kansas and the other half in East Africa, has served as Executive Director of the Kansas Book Festival and, before that, as Director of Creative Writing at Waldorf University, Iowa. His books include The Boundless Game (nonfiction from the University Press of Kansas, 2026), Continental Drift (fiction from Main Street Rag, 2025), Climbing Lessons (essays from Light Messages Press, 2020), Running to the Fire (memoir from the University of Iowa Press, 2015) Chameleon Days (memoir from Houghton Mifflin, 2006), The Comfort Trap (essays from InterVarsity Press, 1993), and Squatters’ Rites (a novel from New Day Press, Philippines, 1990). His writing has been chosen for the Bakeless Literary Prize in Nonfiction, recognized as a Finalist for the IndieFab Memoir of the Year, awarded editor’s prizes at The Missouri Review and Florida Review, and selected for the anthologies Best American Travel Writing and Best Creative Nonfiction. He lives, now, in Topeka, Kansas.
Tim Bascom, Author 