Practice
by Ross Gay and Noah Davis

    Publication Date: Feb 03, 2026
    List Price: $25.95
    Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
    Classification: Nonfiction
    ISBN13: 9781643751825
    Imprint: Algonquin Books
    Publisher: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
    Parent Company: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.

    Description of Practice by Ross Gay and Noah Davis

    A 45-year-old Black man. A 24-year-old white man. Both writers. One a teacher; the other his student. Before the pandemic separated them, Ross Gay and one of his graduate poetry students, Noah Davis, met regularly to play one-on-one basketball. It was a real hard workout. After each session they were moved to exchange letters about basketball and so much more. Gay and Davis, who both attended college on sports scholarships, have taught and coached basketball, and love the sport—its beauty, its athleticism—see their letters as a way to work through some of the larger issues inherent in sports, from misogyny to race to competition, and as their friendship deepens, basketball becomes a springboard for talking how men relate to each other and to the world. All while never losing sight of how playing games brings them delight, which is, of course, Gay’s signature subject.