Greenburgh Public Library Blog

Urban Fiction Author Spotlight: Carl Weber

Urban Fiction.The settings are gritty and the characters are tough, ready to survive by any means necessary. You may know the stories, but what about the authors who write them? What inspired them? Let's take a deeper look at the second of our six authors and offer you a peek inside their lives! ​

To read more about other Urban Fiction authors, check out our previous post about Teri Woods and Zane.  ​

1. Carl Weber started off in retail before becoming a writer. He originally was a book retailer while teaching business at Riker’s Island Prison. He has an a background in accounting with an MBA in Marketing.  
2.  An assignment he gave his students sparked Carl's interest in books. While having his students create a business plan for opening a bookstore, Weber was inspired to open his own mail order store, African American Bookstore. The physical store in Queens, NY opened in the mid nineties but Carl has since sold his interest in the store since becoming a well established author. He previously owned Black Facts I in Brooklyn and Black Facts II in Queens, N.Y., and Horizon books in Newark, N.J.
3. He is the the founder of Urban Books Publishing, a book publisher specializing in African American topics. Urban Books is the largest publisher of African American books and has close to 3,800 titles published. 
4. In January 2018, he signed a multi year co-production deal with Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere’s One Unit. They will feature both film and television series based off of Weber’s work.  
5. Although his books are fiction, they’re all based upon fact. His inspiration comes from, “his stories about the relationships among friends, lovers and family members from the lives of the people around him.”

To read more about Carl Weber, check out one of his many novels, available at the Greenburgh Public Library. Come in and visit the Urban Fiction section on the second floor! 

References:
https://aalbc.com/interviews/interview.php?id=1861
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20060109/6396-king-carl.html
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/11068-carl-weber-expands-urban-books-company.html
https://variety.com/2015/film/news/queen-latifah-carl-weber-producing-deal-1201622696/
https://www.eurweb.com/2018/01/queen-latifah-shakim-compere-carl-weber-team-on-multi-year-deal/
https://www.eurweb.com/2015/11/carl-weber-takes-first-stab-at-mystery-with-the-man-in-3b-eur-exclusive/