Posted on January 28, 2020 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Bestselling author Paulo Coelho revealed that he had been collaborating on a book with the late basketball player Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, and seven other people died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
The Guardian reports that Coelho said he would delete the draft of the children’s book, which Bryant had suggested they write in August, because without Bryant, “this book has lost its reason.”
The book was intended to show underprivileged children they could overcome adversity through sport, Coelho told the Associated Press.
Bryant, who retired with several NBA titles, Olympic medals, and individual basketball records, also worked with writers to publish children’s books about sports and magic, according to the Guardian.
That said, he was also accused of raping a teenage hotel employee in 2003; charges were ultimately dropped when the victim balked at testifying in the face of a smear campaign by Bryant’s lawyers and multiple leaks of her identity.
She and Bryant later settled out of court.
Coelho is best known for his novel The Alchemist.
Categories: Today in Books