Bio
Josh Peter is the lead sports enterprise writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and since 1994 his work has earned regular honors from what’s arguably the most prestigious group in sports journalism, the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE). Peter’s 1993 piece about a mentally retarded man adopted by a high school football team in South Carolina not only produced his first national award from APSE but also led to the major motion picture Radio, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris, and Debra Winger. Some of Peter’s in-depth features have appeared in The Sporting News, and his numerous writing awards include four Louisiana Press Association awards for best sports story. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Project Description
Fried Twinkies, Buckle Bunnies, & Bull Riders: A Year Inside the Professional Bull Riders Tour (Rodale, Fall 2005) is a rollicking behind-the-scenes look at the fastest growing sport in America, and it will focus on the PBR’s star personalities—the bulls, the breeders, the talent scouts, the agents, the groupies, and, especially, the riders. Using the 2003 PBR finals to begin the narrative, Peter spends a year inside the tour, weaving the drama of twenty-nine events with the human, outside-the-ring stories of the personalities that compete for the top prize in the sport. Just as Stefan Fatsis did in Word Freak and James McManus did in Positively Fifth Street, Peter tells the fascinating story of an amazing subculture that has gone wildly mainstream.
