Jarold Imes
THE AUTHOR
A man of hope, courage and proof that dreams do come true, Jarold Imes continues to bring the stories.
Jarold has been writing since he was thirteen, combining his love for rapping, storytelling and poetry to address issues facing young men and women today. Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen he wrote a collection of short stories that would spawn his first two novels, Never Too Much & The Rhyme, the Story N Me. While attending North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University to pursue a degree in Business Management, he saw an opportunity to put his novels into print. He started a publishing company and released both titles in 2001. While the young people and the streets loved his works, he faced harsh criticism and what Mary J. Blige termed “hateration” from “literary critics” who called his work, “unrealistic” and “childish.” Realizing that it was his critics, and not he, who was out of touch with today’s society, Jarold pressed on while building a devoted fan base.
In 2001, he launched his first webdrama, “GETBACK-the drama” a weekly story about college experiences and in 2002, his second webdrama, “Othello Street” which followed a young man who was trying to get his life on the right path in Winston-Salem. He also wrote the critically acclaimed “Walter’s Friend” and “They Called Him Mike” for the original Blackmen.com (the site has changed significantly since Jarold has written for them). He also saw an opportunity to publish authors who specialized in Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror novels In January 2003 he released his breakthrough novel, Hold On Be Strong. Originally titled So Many Tears, the novel initially sold less than twenty copies even though it was received well by critics. After spending some time to regroup and weed out his friends from his enemies, he repackaged the novel a year and a half later and the story took off.
Fall 2004, Jarold finished his studies at A&T and at the request of his fans, he launched “Hold On Be Strong.” The popular webdrama, or online soap opera as it is called served as a spin off to the novel. For weeks, audiences were able to tune in each Monday to see where the characters were going to grow next. After three tries and one novel, he finally found a literary combination that continues to bring him more readers and new fans.
Jarold currently is the editor for OurTeenVoices.com, a literary hang out that promotes writers of Young Adult fiction and a columnist for UrbanBookSource.com. In addition to the “Hold On Be Strong” series, he has written several novels for adults. He lives with his family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Copyright 1999 - 2008 Jarold Imes