With fourteen seasons in the top league, three Swedish championship titles, and a professional career in Spain, Nina Baresso is one of Swedish basketball’s biggest stars. Now she has written a book.

“I’ve always been playing three games at once: one against my own culture, one against the 'Law of Jante', and the actual game on the basketball court.” That’s how Nina Baresso describes her career in her newly released book *Never Give Up!*, co-written with Katja Tydén and published by Kaunitz-Olsson.

Baresso grew up as the only daughter in a large Assyrian family in Södertälje. She discovered a love for basketball at an early age and dreamed of becoming one of the best. But what came naturally to her brothers did not come naturally to her. On the court and in the locker rooms, she was told she took up too much space, that she was a diva, that she didn’t fit in. A battle against cultural norms and expectations, another against the 'Law of Jante' — and in between, the actual struggle to make it to the top.

The book is personal and goes beyond the world of sports. It’s about how to cope with injuries, aging, and parenthood without giving up one’s place in elite sports. It’s about love, grief, and strong family ties—and about a Södertälje that is changing.

Nina Baresso, born in 1975 in Södertälje, played her first games in the top league as early as 1992 and has also represented the Swedish national team and played professionally in Spain during her career. Off the court, she has been actively involved in communities with limited access to sports, including by offering free basketball classes for children in Södertälje.

The book launch party was held on Monday at the Kaunitz-Olsson publishing house, where Baresso celebrated the book’s release together with co-author Katja Tydén.

Never Give Up! by Nina Baresso and Katja Tydén is now available in bookstores, including Adlibris.