Rita Bullwinkels debut novel Headshot was nominated for this year's Booker Prize. The work of the current Picador Professor is one of a total of thirteen novels that made it onto the Booker Long List. The judges called Headshot an “unflinching debut” which works through its “gripping and gutsy depiction of a young women’s boxing tournament in Nevada [. . .] [w]ith great flair and candid detail”. The novel tells the story of eight teenage girls who compete against each other in a crucial boxing match and whose portraits work to negotiate themes of physicality, visibility, dreams and desires.
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The Picador Professorship for Literature at the University of Leipzig is unique in Germany. Located at the University’s American Studies Program, it is based on a public-partnership between Holtzbrinck Berlin - Inspire Together, the DAAD, and the University of Leipzig. For more information on the Picador Professorship for Literature, please refer to
