Meeting Ericka Williams, Author/Teacher/Producer

Ericka Williams

Meet Ericka Williams: author, teacher, producer, public speaker, and more. Ericka has published five (5) street lit novels, with her latest, The Robbin Hoods (2011), recently released on September 27, 2011. 

Ericka is probably best known for her novel, A Woman Scorned (2009), and its sequel, A Woman Scorned, Part 2 (2010). 

Her other novels include: Shining Star (2010) and All That Glitters (2007).

While Ericka has penned entertaining and insightful women's stories for street lit, The Robbin Hoods is her first novel that chronicles men's stories with protagonist Chance Major leading a live of crime in order to feed his family and realize some semblance of the elusive "American Dream". Williams offers a twist to street lit in that she illustrates a story of a family who leaves the hood for the suburbs, only to discover that the two are not that different in terms of the dangers and illegal temptations that constantly looms.

Back cover synopsis:

Based On Actual Events...

"The Robbin Hoods are burglars. They are hood stars who are living the good life splurging their money on women, fast cars, jewels, nice homes, trips, and drugs. Chance was from Brooklyn. His mother moved him and his siblings to New Jersey for a better life. They moved to the suburbs where the dangers and crime of city life were not supposed to exist. 

Very early on his family learns that the have-nots are surrounded by those who are successful; as opposed to the projects where everyone is struggling. Chance chooses a life of robbery to support his mother and siblings. The "crew" started out robbing houses in their town and the surrounding working class and middle class towns. 

What started out as a petty crime with teenagers who would cut school and break and enter into houses, on foot, turned into a multi-million dollar empire when the crew took their craft to a higher level. They graduated from boys to men, who made millions of dollars when they began venturing into exclusive upper class neighborhoods. The Robbin Hoods is about what happens when you take from others, instead of building your own." - Source: http://www.erickaw.com/pages/sys/therobinhoods_sys.html

Williams dedicates this novel to "the men of the world who have had to take to have, raise themselves, be strong with no help, and who love without ever being taught how."

Ericka's dedication makes me think of many youth-led revolutions that are occurring in the world today - in the Middle East (Arab Spring) , Africa (Libya, South Sudan), South America, and in cities across Europe and the U.S. (Occupy Wall Street), where we see young men and women fighting for justice, where civic disobedience sometimes can lead to illegal actions. 

Williams' novel is a timely consideration for how the most unfortunate of "the 99%" live at the expense of the elite "1%." Except in The Robbin Hoods, justice is turned on its head with the 'have-nots' spiraling along risky journeys to 'have' ... even if only for a moment. Ericka Williams challenges us to "hear" and "see" the back stories of WHY young, disenfranchised men of color may enter a life of crime. The Robbin Hoods sheds light on the motivations and lifestyles that mainstream media seems to only be able to demonize.

To connect with Ericka Williams:
Facebook: Ericka Monique Williams
Twitter: @AuthorErickaw
Email: erickawilliamsinfo@yahoo.com
Website: Bestselling Author Ericka Williams
Book Tour: Robbin Hoods Book Tour Info
Online Audio Interview: http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/Cp2R6jds