Wahida Clark is an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

author known for her popular ''Thug'' series novels. She began her writing career while serving time in prison, and her novels have been listed on the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' best-sellers lists.

Background and writing career

Clark took a creative writing course while serving a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering, wire fraud, and mail fraud. She wrote her first novel by hand on a yellow legal pad, a practice that she has continued to this day. While Clark's early novels were written and published while Clark was in prison, upon her release she launched a publishing company, Wahida Clark Presents Publishing Company LLC. She has gone on to publish a total of 11 novels, and has described her genre as Thug Love fiction, a subgenre of

urban fiction With more than half the world's population living in cities, urban fiction has become a truly global field. Recent comprehensive studies of urban fiction showcase the worldwide reach of the genre and include ''Writing Beirut: Mappings of the Ci ...

. She is also a co-author of Jamila T. Davis's upcoming book series "The Pink Panther Clique". In addition to her writing career, Clark is a motivational speaker. She speaks at juvenile facilities, junior high schools, halfway houses, and prisons, encouraging her audiences to dream big, develop skills, and to not "waste time."

Works

* ''Thugs and The Women Who Love Them'' (2002) * ''Every Thug Needs a Lady'' (2003) * ''Payback is a Mutha'' (2006) * ''Thug Matrimony '' (2007) * ''Sleeping With the Enemy'' (2008) * ''Payback With Ya Life'' (2008) * ''Thug Lovin (2009) * ''Golden Hustla'' (2010) * ''Justify My Thug'' (2011) * ''Payback Ain't Enough'' (2012) * ''Honor Thy Thug'' (2013) * ''Blood, Sweat & Payback'' (2014) * ''Thugs 7'' (2019)

Awards

* United Distribution Publisher of the Year (2014)

References

External links

Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Wahida Living people Writers from Trenton, New Jersey African-American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from New Jersey Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers