ARTIST PROFILE |
Pittsburgh-based Writer Michael E. Sawyer Releases New Biography of Lewis Hamilton, “Motorsports’ Greatest Driver”
Few athletes transcend their sport to become global icons, but British race car driver Lewis Hamilton has done just that—rewriting the record books, breaking barriers, and using his platform to push for social change. In Sir Lewis (out March 4 via Grand Central Publishing), acclaimed author and University of Pittsburgh professor Michael E. Sawyer dives deep into the life and legacy of Formula One’s “greatest driver of all time,” weaving together Hamilton’s meteoric rise with broader conversations around race, representation, and excellence in elite sports.
A lifelong F1 fan with a rich academic background in Black studies, literature, and international relations, Sawyer’s expertise—he currently teaches African American Literature and Culture and is the director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English—allows him to explore Hamilton’s story with depth and nuance, connecting the world of motorsport to broader cultural, historical, and social contexts. Lewis, whose parents are of white British and Afro-Grenadian descent, has been outspoken about the need for the sport to become more racially equitable.
Ahead of the nonfiction title’s forthcoming release, we asked Professor Sawyer to share what drew him to the project, the impact of Hamilton’s career on and off the track, and how his work on the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Board of Directors connects to his passion for culture, storytelling, and social change.
Your forthcoming book, Sir Lewis, explores the extraordinary life and career of Lewis Hamilton. What drew you to write about him, and what new insights do you bring to his story?
I have been a fan of Formula One since 1991 when I was stationed in Italy and attended my first race. Since then, I have followed the sport and when Lewis Hamilton joined the series, my interest went beyond the four corners of the sport. Sports are an essential element of Western culture so the project aspires to understand Lewis’ importance inside and outside of Formula One.
As a professor of African American Literature and Culture, how did your academic background influence your approach to writing Sir Lewis?
I think my academic work gives me a unique perspective on the sport and its role in our culture. I have a complicated academic background. I studied engineering in college, so I have a perspective on what is going on technically with the sport. I also was an athlete in college and after, so I have been pressed up against the glass, so to speak, of what the world looks like for elite athletes.
My graduate work is in international relations, comparative literature, and Black studies. That allows me to think through what an international sport like Formula One means in a bunch of different ways. From a literary perspective, there are several authors who I admire, who have used sports to examine the world. I hope this book is part of that tradition.
Finally, obviously having a PhD in Black Studies, or what my institution called Africana Studies, gives me a hold on what Lewis Hamilton, the Black British person who happens to be an impossibly gifted and accomplished athlete, means.
You recently joined the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Board of Directors. What unique perspectives do you bring to this role?
The term “culture” comes up quite a bit for me. Being able to be a part of that conversation for Pittsburgh by serving on the Board allows me to bring all of the same tools that I brought to the Hamilton project to the mission of the Arts Council. Additionally, after the Navy, I worked in investment banking before joining academia for more than a decade. That gives me another, I think, useful way of supporting the Board and [CEO] Patrick Fisher’s leadership.
How do you see this role intersecting with your work as a scholar and author?
I think that the university, as an institution, is best when it is not preoccupied with the space within the four corners of the institution but is constantly involved in conversations outside of those borders as well. The operative term is “conversation,” which means that I am interested in both teaching and learning from what goes on inside of the academy and, perhaps, more importantly, what happens outside. What that means, if it works properly, is that the notion of a separation between what is happening in different spaces is not relevant.
The same goes for my writing. I’m in a really fortunate position in that I have been granted the opportunity to have my work supported through publication, so it lives outside of my own mind. That is not the case for most people, and I am grateful for that. What that means for your question is that I aspire for my writing, that in many times is about culture, becomes part of our cultural milieu.
In Sir Lewis, you delve into the cultural and social significance of Lewis Hamilton’s journey. How do you connect his story to broader themes in Black history and culture?
As we all know, Lewis is the first Black person to drive in Formula One and remains so. That in and of itself is significant for social history for everyone and Black people in particular.
There is obviously the kind of “first” question that is part of sports history that includes athletes like Jackie Robinson and other trailblazers. The next step is to realize that Lewis is also the greatest that the sport has ever seen, which puts him in a unique position, one that I don’t know we have seen before, to be the first from a perspective of race and at literally the same time at the very top of the sport. Beyond that, his accomplishments put him in the rarefied space of athletes like Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, and Ali, and here I’m thinking of the unique challenges for individual athletes.
Finally, we have to take seriously that while he is doing all that, Lewis is also a person who devotes his platform to social justice causes all over the world. That means that he is also a person who has to be considered alongside athletes who took similar stances like Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Naomi Osaka, Colin Kaepernick, and others.