A&U to publish series co-authored by NBA star Patty Mills and Jared Thomas

Allen & Unwin has acquired a three-book junior fiction basketball series by Australian NBA player and Olympian Patty Mills and author Jared Thomas.

The series is loosely based on Mills’ experience as an Indigenous child who ‘dreamt of playing professional basketball’, and aims to inspire readers aged six years and up to ‘achieve their goals through sport’ and ‘showcase Patty’s pride in his Indigenous heritage’.

Publisher Jodie Webster said: ‘I was a sporty kid and I’m a passionate sports fan so, on the eve of the Rio Olympics at which Patty Mills and his Boomers teammates will be competing, I’m thrilled to announce this terrific junior fiction basketball series’.

Mills said his hope is the books ‘inspire all kids to reach for the stars, by embracing the skills and lessons we receive through culture and sport’.

Thomas said it’s ‘incredible working with Patty and learning about how aspects of his cultural background and love for sport have interwoven to make him such an outstanding athlete and cultural ambassador’.

The first two books will be published in August 2017 and the third will be published in November 2017.

Category: Junior Local news