Carl English's tell-all book on life, basketball and overcoming the odds

Carl English's life story has taken him from tragedy to success; from small-town Newfoundland,to Europe to play basketball, and, eventually, back home to lead the St. John's Edge.

While people in Newfoundland and Labrador may know his story on the surface, fans can now take a deeper dive into English's life story with his new autobiography,Chasing a Dream, The Carl English Story.

"It's a difficult story to really embellish and really tell, for me. Once I dug into it and said, 'Now is the time,' it was a bit of a nightmare," English says, of recounting his life story in the new book, on shelves Nov. 29.

"I'm reliving all of this negativity. As a seasoned vet with the media, I don't let them into things I don't want them to know. You can ask me any which way you want, but I'm not going to let you in."

But his book is different.

English left nothing out; from tragedy in his earlychildhood, to his teenage years; to getting cut from the NBA and losing big money. It was difficult for English to put it all down on paper.

English wrote the book with the help of The Athletic sports writer Blake Murphy.

It took about eight days, and 60 hours of recording his lifestory on audiowith Murphy, to put the entire taletogether.

"I thought it would be therapeutic, but it was tough. It's a story I felt was the time to tell. I felt like [it was] full circle in coming back home and I saw the impact that I could have on the province," he said.

"But then I look at it as motivation, determination, perseverance all the things that sum me up as a person."

And that's what droveEnglish to release his tell-all story.

English hopes that through sharing his own story, he can inspire others especially a younger generation and anyone who may be fighting an invisiblebattle.

"I felt that this was another way to help out with someone who's dealing with these things, and also it's a testimonial to who I am as a person," he said.

"Also it pushes Newfoundland, pushes my roots. I want people to look at this and say, 'I've got a dream, I want to achieve it. Here's a kid that lost his parents at a young age and didn't let it stop him.'"

As for the St. John's Edge, training camp starts on Dec. 5. English has not signed with the club yet, stating there are some leftover contract obligations the team has yet to meet from last season.

"It was amazing to come back home and the welcome I received was tremendous, but currently there's some contractual obligations from last season that they have to uphold and I'm not really currently involved until those are rectified," English said.

"Let's just say, it was a great time while I was here, but there's a certain way to do things and there's a certain way to run an organization, so let's see how that works out."

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