Sorry, Kobe BryanT-Paulo Coelho’s book collab will not be released
The famous novelist Paulo Coelho was working together with Kobe Bryant on a children’s book before the accident. However, The Alchemist author decided to not continue the book without the NBA champion.
Yesterday, Coelho told The Associated Press that they had discussed the collaboration in 2016. It was the time when Bryant also retired in NBA — months later, they started writing together.
But after the accident that caused the death of NBA superstar, the 72-year-old writer decided to delete the draft rather than finishing the project alone.
“I deleted the draft because it didn’t make any sense to publish without him,” Coelho said by phone on Monday in his home in Geneva. “It wouldn’t add anything relevant to him or his family.”
“That doesn’t stop me from writing someday about things I learned from Kobe and how much of a larger-than-life person he was,” he said. “But the children’s book did not make sense anymore.”
Bryant is a big fan of Coelho’s The Alchemist, making it his favourite book. He even recommended it to everyone from former teammate Kyrie Irving to Rob Pelinka, his former agent who is the now current operator of Lakers’ Basketball.
According to Coelho, the project was intended to inspire underprivileged children to overcome adversity through sports. In 2018, Bryant’s Granity Studios published The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.
