AustLit

'Patty Mills is the first book exploring the Indigenous Australian athlete and trail blazer—the first Indigenous Australian to win an NBA Championship in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs. He continues to break records and inspire with his achievements, all of which are covered in this tribute to the extraordinary sportsman.

'In 2021 he led the Boomers to their first Olympic medal at the Tokyo Olympics, arguably the greatest single game played by anyone wearing the green-and-gold for an Australian men’s basketball team, and in 2022 he was awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for charitable initiatives in the Indigenous community and his contribution to basketball in the Australia Day honours.

'Award-winning sports writer Boti Nagy celebrates the star athlete’s achievements on the court and gives an overview of Australian basketball history, the Boomers, past Olympic campaigns, and standout players who paved the way for Patty Mills and others of his generation. Beyond basketball the book looks at Mills’ understanding of his identity as an Indigenous Australian through his family history and his off-court leadership efforts in creating pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as a spokesman and ambassador.'  (Publication summary)

'A Type of Life is the memoir of writer/author Boti Nagy, eighth child in a migrant family fleeing post-World War II Europe for a better life in Australia.

'Growing up in the shadow of his basketball stars, award-winning siblings and prominent parents, before injury prematurely ended his burgeoning sporting career, it crystallised his path as a journalist, working for 43 years for News Ltd, now News Corp.

'Initially at The News and Sunday Mail newspapers in Adelaide, Nagy cut his teeth on the tough Courts round during the Truro serial murder trials and several other major cases which shaped South Australia. Ultimately specialising as a basketball writer, he was present at the formation of the National Basketball League in 1979 and Women’s National Basketball League in 1981, growing to national prominence as the sport’s most respected “must-read” journalist.

'This is a coming-of-age story, of assimilating into a foreign culture and becoming a multiple award-winner as a writer, an insider account of a sport’s growth and written with humour and the joy of many wonderful recollections featuring the biggest names in the game.' (Publication summary)