Biographies and Autobiographies
Sport
The two of me: Andrew Johns, by Andrew Johns
Hailed as the greatest Rugby League player in the history of the game, Andrew Johns is one of the most compelling personalities in Australian sport. However, his achievements on the field have masked the overwhelming challenges he has faced off the park. From his early teenage years, Andrew suffered from mood swings and depression that, in 2000, were finally diagnosed as a bipolar disorder. For more than a decade Andrew also struggled with alcohol problems and recreational drug use, which sensationally came to public attention in August 2007. From the emotionally vulnerable kid from Cessnock battling to cope with fame and the effects of his medical condition, to the barnstorming, all-conquering footballer, the two of Me is Andrew Johns' candid account of his remarkable life.
Hawk: Occupation, skateboarder, by Tony Hawk and Sean Mortimer
For Tony Hawk, it wasn't enough to skate for two decades, to invent more than eighty tricks, and to win more than twice as many professional contests as any other skater. It wasn't enough to knock himself unconscious more than ten times, fracture several ribs, break his elbow, knock out his teeth twice, compress the vertebrae in his back, pop his bursa sack, get more than fifty stitches laced into his shins, rip apart the cartilage in his knee, bruise his tailbone, sprain his ankles, and tear his ligaments too many times to count. No. He had to land the 900. And after thirteen years of failed attempts, he nailed it. It had never been done before.
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Messi, by Luca Caioli
Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the greatest soccer player in the world. Sports journalist and best-selling author Luca Caioli draws on the exceptional testimonies of Messi's parents, his coaches from his boyhood and during his time as an international star in Argentina, leading figures from Barcelona... and Leo Messi himself.
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Kelly Slater: For the love, by Kelly Slater and Phil Jarrat
No one knows nine-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater better than Kelly himself. In this revealing and heartfelt tribute, written with surfing veteran Phil Jarratt, the world's best surfer riffs on a life filled with big wins, big money, and big loves. Interviews with friends and fellow surfers unearth amazing anecdotes, and hundreds of photographs- some never before published- capture the greatest victories and the quietest moments in equal measure. This beautifully produced book marks the first time Slater's story has been told in full colour, and reflects the latest twists and turns in an incredible and unconventional life.
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Maradona: The hand of God, by Jimmy Burns
Anyone doubting that Diego Maradona was more than just a soccer player had only to witness the outpourings after his death on November 25th 2020. During his tempestuous life and career, he played for top clubs in South America and Europe, notably Napoli where he became an adored hero and adopted son, and grew to be a legend in his homeland of Argentina after leading them to victory in the 1986 World Cup.
Jimmy Burns traces Maradona's life from the slums of Buenos Aires, through his great years of triumph, to the United States from where, in 1994, he was ignobly expelled after undergoing a positive drugs test. He also tells of his failed attempt to bring further glory to Argentina as coach in the 2010 World Cup, and ultimately, his tragic decline and recent death. |
Able, by Dylan Alcott and Grantlee Kieza
The astonishing life of Australia's most inspirational athlete Not long after he was born in 1990, Dylan Alcott was found to have a tumour on his spine. The surgery to remove it was successful, but left Dylan a paraplegic. Part of an average Aussie family in Melbourne, Dylan experienced his fair share of bullying and loneliness growing up. By early high school he was feeling pretty low - depressed, overweight and fearful for his future. Then, somehow, he discovered sport - swimming, basketball and tennis. Fast forwards 10 years or so and the Order of Australia recipient has climbed to the top of not just one sport but two, winning gold and silver at two Olympics and in two sports. Now the four-time winner of the Australian Open, is not only a sports star, but a motivational speaker, triple j radio host, music fan, keynote presenter, business owner, and youth mentor with his own youth foundation. In Game Changer, Dylan Alcott at last tells his story.
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The mamba mentality: How I play, by Kobe Bryant
In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Kobe “The Black Mamba” Bryant has decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary “Mamba mentality.”
For the first time, and in his own words, Bryant reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. Readers will learn how Bryant studied an opponent, how he channeled his passion for the game, how he played through injuries. They’ll also get fascinating granular detail as he breaks down specific plays and match-ups from throughout his career. |
Shoe dog: A memoir of creator of Nike, by Phil Knight
In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the boot of his Plymouth, Knight grossed $8000 in his first year.
Today, Nike's annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of start-ups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all start-ups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognisable symbols in the world today. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, he tells his story. |
Stephen Curry: The inspirational story of basketball superstar Stephen Curry, by Bill Redban
You're about to discover the incredibly inspirational story of basketball superstar Stephen Curry. If you're reading this then you must be a Stephen Curry fan, like so many others. As a fan, you must wonder how this man is so talented and want to know more about him. Stephen Curry is considered as one of the greatest basketball players in the world and it's been an honour to be able to watch him play throughout his career. This book will reveal to you much about Stephen Curry's story and the many accomplishments throughout his career.
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The girl who climbed Everest: The inspirational story of Alyssa Azar, Australia's youngest adventurer, by Sue Williams
Alyssa Azar is unstoppable. When she was just eight years old, she walked the gruelling Kokoda Track, the youngest person in the world to do so. At twelve she climbed the ten highest peaks in Australia. Two years later she touched the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Now, at the age of nineteen, she has reached the roof of the world: the summit of Mount Everest.
The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the inspiring story of how an ordinary girl from country Queensland worked towards ascending the world's highest peak. Through passion, determination and immense hard work, and despite being turned back twice - once by a deadly avalanche and the second time by a devastating earthquake that nearly claimed her life - Alyssa is the youngest Australian to have achieved this extraordinary feat. |
Rafa: My story, by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin
This autobiography gives Nadal's millions of fans what they've been waiting for - a glimpse behind the racquet to learn what really makes Nadal - an intensely private person who until now has never talked about his personal and family life - tick.
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Indigenous
My dream time, by Ash Barty
I'm only in my mid-twenties, and some might think that's young to write a memoir. Who does that, right? But for me and my team it's always been important to reflect on every part of the journey, especially the end. In that context, the timing is perfect to share my story, from the first time I picked up a racquet as a 5-year-old girl in Ipswich to the night I packed up my tennis bag at Melbourne Park after winning the 2022 Australian Open. This book gives me a chance to look back at every moment of the 20 years in between, and to think carefully through the highs and lows, the work and the play, the smiles and the tears.
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Born to run: My story, by Cathy Freeman
Hi guys,
Ever since I was little I only had one dream – to win a gold medal at the Olympics. When I was twenty-seven years old, my dream came true. I'll never forget that night at the Sydney 2000 Games – as I crossed the finish line, it was as if the whole of Australia was cheering for me. Sometimes I still wonder how it happened. When I was growing up, I felt no different to anyone else. I loved having fun with my brothers, sleeping over at nanna's and going horse riding with my dad. But I especially loved to run. With the help of my family, coaches and teachers, I became the best female 400-metre runner in the world. I hope you enjoy my story, and that it inspires you to chase after your dreams too! |
Gurrumul: His life, his music, by Robert Hillman
From concert halls to recording studios and into Aboriginal heartlands, this is the story of Australia′s Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. This unique Indigenous man is one of the most inspiring music stories of our generation.
Part road trip, part biography, Robert Hillman′s account of Gurrumul′s life and music offers rare insights into the sources of his inspiration. The book includes interviews with family and friends, song lyrics and exclusive photographs. His story is one of a great talent revealed and of an astonishing musical gift that has left audiences all over the world spellbound. |
Jack Charles: Born-again blakfella, by Jack Charles and Namila Benson
Jack Charles has worn many hats throughout his life: actor, cat burglar, musician, heroin addict, activist, even Senior Victorian Australian of the Year. But the title he’s most proud to claim is that of Aboriginal Elder.
Stolen from his mother and placed into institutional care when he was only a few months old, Uncle Jack was raised under the government’s White Australia Policy. The loneliness and isolation he experienced during those years had a devastating impact on him that endured long after he reconnected with his Aboriginal roots and discovered his stolen identity. Even today he feels like an outsider; a loner; a fringe dweller. In this honest and no-holds-barred memoir, Uncle Jack reveals the ‘ups and downs of this crazy, and at times unbelievable, life’. |
Talking to my country, by Stan Grant
In July 2015, as the debate over Adam Goodes being booed at AFL games raged and got ever more heated and ugly, Stan Grant wrote a short but powerful piece for The Guardian that went viral, not only in Australia but right around the world, shared over 100,000 times on social media. His was a personal, passionate and powerful response to racism in Australian and the sorrow, shame, anger and hardship of being an indigenous man. 'We are the detritus of the brutality of the Australian frontier', he wrote, 'We remained a reminder of what was lost, what was taken, what was destroyed to scaffold the building of this nation's prosperity.'
Stan Grant was lucky enough to find an escape route, making his way through education to become one of our leading journalists. He also spent many years outside Australia, working in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, a time that liberated him and gave him a unique perspective on Australia. This is his very personal meditation on what it means to be Australian, what it means to be indigenous, and what racism really means in this country. |
Tell me why: For young adults, by Archie Roach
Not many have lived as many lives as Archie Roach – stolen child, seeker, teenage alcoholic, lover, father, musical and lyrical genius, and leader – but it took him almost a lifetime to find out who he really was.
Roach was only two years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. Brought up by a series of foster parents until his early teens, his world imploded when he received a letter that spoke of a life he had no memory of. In this intimate, moving and often shocking memoir, Archie’s story is an extraordinary odyssey through love and heartbreak, family and community, survival and renewal – and the healing power of music. Overcoming enormous odds to find his story and his people, Archie voices the joy, pain and hope he found on his path through song to become the legendary singer-songwriter and storyteller that he is today – beloved by fans worldwide. |
Historical
Raised in a desperately poor village during the height of China's Cultural Revolution, Li Cunxin's childhood revolved around the commune, his family and Chairman Mao's Little Red Book.
Until, that is, Madame Mao's cultural delegates came in search of young peasants to study ballet at the academy in Beijing and he was thrust into a completely unfamiliar world. When a trip to Texas as part of a rare cultural exchange opened his eyes to life and love beyond China's borders, he defected to the United States in an extraordinary and dramatic tale of Cold War intrigue. Told in his own distinctive voice, this is Li's inspirational story of how he came to be Mao's last dancer, and one of the world's greatest ballet dancers. Borrow on the Inaburra eLibrary |
Aphra Behn, first female professional writer. Sojourner Truth, activist and abolitionist. Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer. Marie Curie, first woman to win the Nobel Prize. Joan Jett, godmother of punk. The 100 revolutionary women highlighted in this gorgeously illustrated book were bad in the best sense of the word: they challenged the status quo and changed the rules for all who followed. From pirates to artists, warriors, daredevils, scientists, activists, and spies, the accomplishments of these incredible women vary as much as the eras and places in which they effected change.
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Coco Chanel transformed forever the way women dressed. Her influence remains so pervasive that to this day we can see her afterimage a dozen times while just walking down a single street: in all the little black dresses, flat shoes, costume jewellery, cardigan sweaters, and tortoiseshell eyeglasses on women of every age and background. A bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume is sold every three seconds. Arguably, no other individual has had a deeper impact on the visual aesthetic of the world. But how did a poor orphan become a global icon of both luxury and everyday style? How did she develop such vast, undying influence? And what does our ongoing love of all things Chanel tell us about ourselves?
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In this groundbreaking new account of the marriage of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Hazel Rowley describes the remarkable courage and lack of convention - private and public - that kept FDR and Eleanor together. She reveals a partnership that was both supportive and daring. Franklin, especially, knew what he owed to Eleanor, who was not so much behind the scenes as heavily engaged in them. Their relationship was the product of FDR and Eleanor's conscious efforts- a partnership that they created according to their own ambitions and needs.
In this dramatic and vivid narrative, set against the great upheavals of the Depression and World War II, Rowley paints a portrait of a tender lifelong companionship, born of mutual admiration and compassion. Most of all, she depicts an extraordinary evolution- from conventional Victorian marriage to the bold and radical partnership that has made Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt go down in history as one of the most inspiring and fascinating couples of all time. |
Global
A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return to their roots." In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for- the love and understanding of her family.
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Anh Do nearly didn't make it to Australia. His entire family came close to losing their lives on the sea as they escaped from war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat. But nothing - not murderous pirates, nor the imminent threat of death by hunger, disease or dehydration as they drifted for days - could quench their desire to make a better life in the country they had dreamed about. Life in Australia was hard, an endless succession of back-breaking work, crowded rooms, ruthless landlords and make-do everything. But there was a loving extended family, and always friends and play and something to laugh about for Anh, his brother Khoa and their sister Tram. Things got harder when their father left home when Anh was only nine - they felt his loss very deeply and their mother struggled to support the family on her own. His mother's sacrifice was an inspiration to Anh and he worked hard during his teenage years to help her make ends meet, also managing to graduate high school and then university. Another inspiration was the comedian Anh met when he was about to sign on for a 60-hour a week corporate job. Anh asked how many hours he worked. 'Four,' the answer came back, and that was it. He was going to be a comedian! The Happiest Refugee tells the incredible, uplifting and inspiring life story of one of our favourite personalities. Tragedy, humour, heartache and unswerving determination - a big life with big dreams. Anh's story will move and amuse all who read it.
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After Alice Pung’s family fled to Australia from the killing fields of Cambodia, her father chose Alice as her name because he thought their new country was a Wonderland. In this lyrical, bittersweet debut memoir & already an award- winning bestseller when it was published in Australia & Alice grows up straddling two worlds, East and West, her insular family and the Australia outside. With wisdom beyond her years and a keen eye for comedy in everyday life, she writes of the trials of assimilation and cultural misunderstanding, and of the tender but fraught relationships between three generations of women trying to live the Australian dream without losing themselves.
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Since the tender age of eight, Tala Raassi knew she was meant to work in fashion. But in Iran, a woman can be punished for exposing her hair, let alone wearing the newest trends. Determined to follow her dream, Tala pushed back. She never imagined her behaviour would land her in prison or bring the cruel sting of a whip for the crime of wearing a miniskirt.
Tala's forty lashes didn't keep her down-they spurred her to start her own fashion label. Fashion Is Freedom is an incredible memoir that crosses the globe, from Iran to Las Vegas, and inspires women everywhere to be fearless. |
Faith
They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing - not even the loss of her arm - could come between her and the waves? That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany responded to the shark’s stealth attack with the calm of a girl with God on her side. Pushing pain and panic aside, she began to paddle with one arm, focusing on a single thought: “Get to the beach....” And when the first thing Bethany wanted to know after surgery was “When can I surf again?” it became clear that her spirit and determination were part of a greater story- a tale of courage and faith that this soft-spoken girl would come to share with the world.
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Stephen Lungu was three when his mother ran away, leaving him and his younger brother and sister in the reluctant care of an aunt. By the age of eleven, Stephen had run away too, preferring life on the streets. As a teenager he was recruited into an urban gang, the Black Shadows, which robbed and mugged with a half-focused dream of revolution. When an evangelist came to town, Stephen was sent to fire bomb the event, but instead he stayed to listen. This powerful, bestselling story has now been revised and updated and is in its fourth printing.
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Missy Franklin is one of the most talented swimmers in the world. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and currently holds the world record in the 200-meter backstroke and American records in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. She was Swimming World’s World Swimmer of the Year and the American Swimmer of the Year in 2012. This story tells of her rise in fame and humbleness in the sport.
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In A Warrior’s Faith, Ryan Job’s close friend, Robert Vera, recounts how the highly decorated Navy SEAL’s unstoppable sense of humour, positive attitude, and fierce determination helped him survive after being shot in the face by an enemy sniper on a roof in Ramadi, Iraq.
Though blinded, the irrepressible Job recovered from his wounds and began facing a new set of obstacles with his characteristic humour and resolve. He married the girl of his dreams, hunted elk, climbed Mt. Rainier, graduated college with honours, influenced countless people around him, and was looking forward to being a father—before his life was tragically cut short by a hospital medical error. Vera’s raw, often funny, and heartfelt account of his friend’s life offers readers a way to find hope in the middle of life’s raging storms. |
Grace, gold and glory: My leap of faith, by Gabrielle Douglas and Michelle Burford
In the 2012 London Olympics, US gymnast Gabby Douglas stole hearts and flew high as the All-Around Gold Medal winner, as well as acting as a critical member of the US gold-medal-winning women gymnastics team. In this personal autobiography, Gabby tells her story of faith, perseverance, and determination, demonstrating you can reach your dreams if you let yourself soar.
Updated May 2023
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