All hail the duchess of hip-hop fiction.
St. Louis-based Keisha Ervin is the Essence best-selling author of Me & My Boyfriend, Chyna Black, Mina’s Joint, Hold U Down, Torn a short story “After the Storm” featured in The Street Love Anthology, and the recent Finding Forever.
She credits her success to her hometown, friends and family.
“Writing has given me such an outlet, and to hear such positive feedback from the readers is wonderful,” Ervin said.
“There are times when the business side of things gets frustrating, but for the most part I love it.”
Her road to urban literary stardom was not an easy one.
Ervin, 27, was born and raised in St. Louis. Growing up, she received numerous accolades and awards for her writing skills, which she has been honing since childhood.
At Normandy Senior High School, she reached her turbulent adolescent years. At age 17 Ervin became pregnant and, at the age of 18, she had her son, Kyrese. She eventually dropped out of school.
“For three years I didn’t go out or do anything but work and take care of my son,” Ervin said.
Out of boredom, she started reading books by Nikki Turner, Teri Woods and K’wan. Suddenly, she said, “I wanted to reclaim my love of writing books.”
At the age of 20, Ervin wrote her first novel, Me & My Boyfriend (originally titled Livin for the City). The novel is about Messa, an aspiring fashion designer who falls in love with a street pharmacist, Black, inspired by “this guy I seen at a 50 Cent concert.”
She finished the book at age 22. She went on Triple Crown Publications’ website and followed the submission guideline. In October 2003 she sent the first four chapters of her book off. On December 14, 2003, she received a call that would change her life.
At the time she and her son were living with her mother, and Ervin was working at Shop N Save on St. Charles Rock Road.
“The manager told me I had gotten a call from my mom,” she remembered.
“I thought something was wrong with my son. So I got off my line and I called my mom. And she told me that I got a letter in the mail from Triple Crown saying they wanted to give me a two-book deal. And I was like, what?”
She called Vickie Stringer (CEO and Founder of Triple Crown Publications) on her personal number and worked out a deal.
Now she has published five books, but her favorite was Mina’s Joint. “That was when I really started to show the funny side of myself,” Ervin said.
She takes inspiration from her girlfriends.
“All my stories are based on someone I know, but must people don’t know and should know that Chyna Black was me. That was my story about things I went through to get where I am now,” she said.
“But all of my characters have some characteristic of mine, like Messa, who loves fashion and loves to be around her girlfriends n that’s me. Mina is the ‘soft spoken and insecure, wanna be in a relationship’ side of me. And Unique in Hold U Down is the ghetto girl, the crazy side of me you don’t ever wanna see.”
Ervin also credits her son for her success.
“If I didn’t have my son at the age of 18, I would have never pursued a writing career,” she said.
“Most people know my son’s father doesn’t play a big part in my son’s life. So I really credit my son and my mom for who I am today. And I never regretted having him.”
Kyrese will be nine on Dec. 7. He loves video games and the Disney channel. “He’s very inquisitive,” Ervin said. “My family says that he’s been before.”
Now she is signed to Carl Weber’s Urban Books and working on her sixth novel, Guns N Rose, which will be released in April 2009.
She said, “It’s basically one of those stories about a guy that you wanna be with, but he’s not ready for the things you’re ready for and that we as women ignore the signs men are giving us.”
Ervin has a message for young mothers. “Young moms should know when there’s a will there’s away. Anything you put your mind to, you can do n despite you having a child.”
