Davis Miller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Davis Miller is an American author, notable for a series of works that combine reportage, memoir and elements of fictional style. Miller's books include The Tao of Muhammad Ali and The Tao of Bruce Lee: a martial arts memoir,[1][2] as well as The Zen of Muhammad Ali: and other obsessions, a collection of personal essays, memoir and short fiction that was published exclusively in the U.K. His most recent book is Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts.[3]
The Tao of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was a childhood influence on Miller, and he was in college when first met Ali in 1975. He had a chance to spar with Ali at his training camp in Deer Lake, and he wrote of his experience in an article which was published in Sports Illustrated in 1981.[4][5] Years later in 1988 when he was working in Louisville, Kentucky, he met Ali again at Ali's mother's house, he was invited for dinner with Ali and they became friends.[6] He wrote a long article on their encounter titled "My Dinner with Ali", which was first published by Louisville Courier-Journal Magazine and then in a number of publications including Sport and Esquire magazines in 1989.[7][8] This article won a number of awards, and was judged the best essay published in a U.S. newspaper magazine in 1989 by Sunday Magazine Editors Association.[9][10]
Miller became the sportswriter on boxing for Sport magazine in 1989.[9]
Miller's first book, The Tao of Muhammad Ali: a fathers and sons memoir, was published in hardcover in December 1996 by Warner Books and in trade paperback in January 1997 by Vintage U.K.[11] The book has been an international bestseller, reaching number one in the UK,[12] Australia and Japan, where it was published by Aoyama Publishing.
Miller wrote a radio play of The Tao of Muhammad Ali, which was broadcast in six parts in January 1998 by BBC Radio 4.[citation needed]
The Tao of Muhammad Ali was produced as an eight-episode immersive podcast series by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment & Television. The series, which is also titled The Tao of Muhammad Ali premiered on iHeartMedia in 2024.[13]
Approaching Ali the chamber opera
An opera was developed from "The Tao of Muhammad Ali" and "My Dinner with Ali" for the Washington National Opera by composer D. J. Sparr. Along with Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Mark Campbell, Davis Miller wrote the libretto for the opera, which received its world premiere in June 2013 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[14] The opera has since received productions in various U.S. cities, including Raleigh,[15] Las Vegas, Baton Rouge and Asheville.[16] The title of the opera is Approaching Ali.[17]
A book, titled Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts, was also published in 2015.[18][19]
