The Pick and Roll

The Pick and Roll

Share this post

The Pick and Roll
The Pick and Roll
Nadeen Payne talks writing her first children's book

Nadeen Payne talks writing her first children's book

The WNBL stalwart has penned a story encouraging curly-haired kids to love their hair

Daniel Herborn's avatar
Daniel Herborn
Oct 09, 2022
∙ Paid
4

Share this post

The Pick and Roll
The Pick and Roll
Nadeen Payne talks writing her first children's book
1
Share

Basketballer turned author Nadeen Payne grew up with curly hair and didn’t see anyone who looked like her in picture books. So she took matters into her own hands, writing the tale she wanted to read as a kid.

The result is Kenzie and Her Curls. Payne spent two and a half years working on the story, which sees the intrepid title character come to love her hair and embrace diversity.

“The story is based on what I experienced,” Payne tells The Pick and Roll. “I had a lot of nieces and nephews, and also friends with children, who have really curly hair and a lot of them don’t like their hair. They don’t see a lot of it (in pop culture) There’s a real lack of representation for curly-haired kids. There was a market for me to jump into.”

Twitter avatar for @WNBL
WNBL @WNBL
More than basketball. @TownsvilleFire and @NBL1 star, Nadeen Payne has published her first children’s book encouraging kids to embrace their natural hair 🫶 Feature👇 wnbl.basketball/blog/news/curl…
wnbl.basketballCurly hair is beautiful; Nadeen Payne publishes first children’s book. | WNBL
6:15 AM ∙ Sep 5, 2022
20Likes7Retweets

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to The Pick and Roll to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 The Pick and Roll Pty Ltd
Publisher Privacy ∙ Publisher Terms
Substack
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share