Biography

BedStuyStories began on the pages of journals written by Eric Watts. While growing up in Bedford Stuyvesant, Eric had to deal with the harsh realities of crime, drugs and the mental illness that ravished his family. After his father’s incarceration, Eric encountered physical abuse from his step father to the point where he had bruises and scares all over his body. As a coping mechanism Eric wrote poems and short stories that he kept in journals for many years. “I used my words to cope and sometimes vent my emotions on paper, only then I was truly free”, Eric said. He carefully selected poems and short stories that he compiled to make write Cellar Door, his first book.

Eric moved back to Bedford Stuyvesant in 2007. He decided to continue writing and working towards getting Cellar Door published. He became good friends with his neighbor and now business partner Trevor Robinson, who read the manuscript and agreed to help edit and design Cellar Door. After a lot of hard work and many late nights, Cellar Door was published by Iuniverse in February of 2008 and was well received by the general public and critics alike. “If ever there was a young Brooklyn author who has learned how to make lemonade from life's lemons, it's likely to be Eric Watts" writes Joyce Shelby, NY Daily News. Cellar Door was the most read underground poetry book of 2008. Eric and Trevor decided to build a website to market Cellar Door; as a consequence BedStuyStories.com was born. During this time Eric and Trevor took Cellar Door on a European Tour, stopping in Ireland and Holland. The experience was a success; “we made many friends and had the opportunity to perform live in Dam Square, Amsterdam and Dublin, Ireland.”

After the success of Cellar Door, the idea for Chloe’s First Day of School came about when a conversation between Eric and his daughter was over heard by Trevor. Trinity and her father were discussing her first day of school and making friends; that was the inspiration for Chloe’s First day of School. It was BedStuyStories’ first venture into the children’s book genre. BedStuyStories’ main goal for writing Chloe’s First day of School and all of its children’s books was to inspire children to have strong self- esteem, self-worth, confidence and courage. Career Day is BedStuyStories’ latest venture in the children’s category which is BedStuyStories/Kids. Career Day’s goal is to offer options to all children, especially minorities, who generally don’t see themselves as Engineers, Scientists or Astronauts to name a few, but have dreams that need to be reinforced. The powerful illustrations in Chloe’s First Day of School and Career Day are also used to educate and inspire the imagination.

BedStuyStories have been presented with many opportunities to serve the community and have done so through its outreach and volunteer efforts. “Because we are big believers in education, we are passionate about giving back to our community through our literacy workshops, book reading and community fairs”. BedStuyStories have volunteered at the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corp., (an organization that emerged in 1975 at the forefront of a nationwide grassroots movement to preserve and improve neighborhoods). BedStuyStories provides the perfect foundation for aspiring writers to be innovative and imaginative. “Our promotional gears are moving with television and radio interviews, book fairs, book readings and press releases. We believe that success will always be the result of diligence, passion and hard work. We have many plans for the future, including Cellar Door vol.2, expected to debut in 2010 (a science fiction book and a short film based on Cellar Door). In addition, we are working towards developing our main character from Chloe’s First Day of School into a house hold name. BedStuyStories encourages all to read more so you can be more”.