2025 Shortlist Interview: Sir James Anderson and Felix White

Sir James Anderson and Felix White’s Finding The Edge has been shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2025.

What is your book about?

Felix White: “We set about writing Finding The Edge when Jimmy [Anderson] had immediately finished his Test career, it was quite a visceral time to be writing a sort of definitive book about Jimmy’s life.

“Because we’d known each other for a long time, I already had quite a depth of information and feeling about Jimmy’s career and situation, so between us we went right to his beginnings in Burnley which became the backstory and emotional heartbeat of the book.”

How does it feel to be shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award?

Sir James Anderson: “I feel really proud to be shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. It was a real pleasure doing this book with Felix. We’ve known each other for a long time, and we put a lot of work into it. We wanted to make it different to a normal autobiography, we wanted to make it cinematic and feel really special when people are reading it and give a real insight into what it was like for me to be a professional cricketer.”

Felix: “I’ve written a couple of books before and everyone says this is the ‘one’! I don’t think we expected to be up for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award because not many sports autobiographies are. I feel like it’s testament to what Jimmy achieved and how far he wanted to go with this book and be able to show some vulnerability as well as all the exciting moments. It feels very cool to be shortlisted.”

What would it mean to win the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award?

James: “It would be such a proud moment to win this award. I feel like it would be much more for Felix, he put his heart and soul into this book and I just filled in some gaps that he didn’t know about throughout my career.

“It’s such a proud thing to have been a part of, we both loved it. We both feel incredibly proud of the final product and the feedback we’ve got from it has been great. Being nominated for such a prestigious award is just the icing on the cake.”

Felix: “It would probably mean more to me than it would to Jimmy because he’s just been knighted and is the highest wicket-taking fast bowler in Test history! It’d be a massive honour.”

About the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 

The William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award is the longest established and most valuable literary sports-writing prize in the world. First awarded in 1989, it aims to reward excellence in sports writing and provide recognition to authors who bring the world of sport to life through their work.

This year’s winner will be crowned at a central London ceremony on Tuesday, 25th November, where they will also claim a £30,000 prize and the coveted William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award trophy. Shortlisted authors will receive a leather-bound copy of their book along with £3,000 each.

The 2025 judging panel will be chaired by Alyson Rudd, with Clarke Carlisle, Elis James, Gabby Logan, Mark Lawson, Dame Heather Rabbatts and Michelle Walder making up the rest of the panel.