Local literary and athletic talents are teaming up to tell a tale of success both on and off the basketball court.

WCHL’s Elizabeth Friend has more.

This fall,  to coincide with the start of basketball season, Algonquin Books will publish the memoir of award-winning UNC coach Roy Williams. Senior Editor Kathy Pories says competition for the book was fierce but the personal touch was key in sealing the deal.

Algonquin Books is a Chapel Hill-based publishing house known for promoting literary fiction and contemporary Southern authors.

Pories says readers are likely to be surprised by Williams' story which covers not just his professional life coaching men's basketball but also his tough childhood growing up in the mountains of North Carolina.

She says the title, “Hard Work: My Life On and Off the Court,”comes from a longstanding tradition during practice.

Williams is writing the book with the help of sports writer and UNC lecturer Tim Crothers. Novelist John Grisham will provide a forward. The autobiography will arrive in bookstores on November 10th.