Ashley & JaQuavis is the pseudonym of American street lit authors Ashley Antoinette and JaQuavis Coleman. They are considered the youngest African-American co-authors to place on the New York Times Best Seller list twice. Their best-known work is the Cartel series, which appeared on the list in 2009 and 2010.
Biography Ashley Antoinette Snell (b. 1985) and JaQuavis Coleman (c. 1984) were both born in Flint, Michigan. Coleman was raised in foster homes after being removed from his mother's home at age eight and eventually graduated from Flint Central High School; Antoinette graduated from Hamady High School. Coleman began selling cocaine at age 12. The couple met following an attempted drug bust, during which Coleman, then 16, realized he was selling to an undercover cop. He fled, eventually throwing the drugs into a bush off an alleyway. When the cops caught up with him, they were unable to locate the drugs in the bushes or on his person and were forced to let him go. Within days, Antoinette got in contact with Coleman to tell him she had seen him running from her window and dug the drugs out of the bushes to hide in her basement before the cops caught up. They were both avid readers and became close very quickly. Antoinette was pregnant within a year and the two moved in together while still attending high school. In the second month of pregnancy, Antoinette was forced to end what had become an ectopic pregnancy, which sent Antoinette into a deep depression. One day, Coleman told her: "I bet I could write a better book than you." Antoinette, who was very competitive, agreed; within days, they combined their works into Dirty Money, their first novel. The pair attended Ferris State University for two semesters, during which Coleman continued to sell cocaine in Flint.
Career At 18, they landed their first publishing deal by selling the Dirty Money manuscript to Carl Weber's Kensington Publishing imprint, which focused on street lit. In her excitement, Antoinette flushed the rest of Coleman's cocaine stash, which he claims was worth $40,000, despite their advance being for only $4,000. They dropped out of Ferris State and moved to New York to pursue writing. Antoinette and Coleman's books are based primarily by their lives in impoverished Flint, Michigan. They initially sold free advance copies they received from their publisher from the trunk of their car but quickly became prolific authors in the street lit genre, publishing four or five books annually. By 2009, their book Tale of the Murda Mamas, the second installment of their Cartel series, appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2012, Diamonds Are Forever, Cartel book four, was also featured on the New York Times Best Seller list, and Coleman and Antonette were recognized as #27 of Ebony's Power 100, a list that also featured the Obamas, Oprah, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and Trayvon Martin. They were nominated separately for Street Lit Writer of the Year by the African Americans on the Move Book Club (AAMBC); JaQuavis was also nominated for Male Author of the Year. In 2013, they started their own company, the Official Writers League, which publishes authors such as Keishar Tyree, C.N. Phillips, and Amaleka McCall. Antoinette signed a contract with Viacom to write several novelas about the main characters from the show Single Ladies on VH1. She was also nominated as the Female Author of the Year by the AAMBC. Antoinette received two more nominations by the AAMBC in 2014 (Reader's Choice Awards) and 2016 (Street Lit Writer of the Year).
The pair was awarded with the Urban Classic Honor at the 2018 AAMBC Awards; the following year, Antoinette's Ethic series was named the Best Black Book Series and she was named Author Queen of the Year by Black Girls Who Write (BGWW), while Coleman was named Author King of the Year. In 2020, Antoinette won her first AAMBC awards: Urban Book of the Year for the sixth installment of her Ethics series and Street Lit Writer of the Year. She and Coleman were awarded the Best Black Collaborative Series by BGWW. Antoinette and the couple's 10-year old son Quaye co-wrote The Girl Behind the Wall, published in 2020 by Ashley Antoinette Inc.
Many of their books, including Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Diamonds Are Forever, and The Demise, are banned in American prisons for being sexually explicit or for having criminal activity.
Film In addition to writing, JaQuavis is also a film producer and director. In 2012, he directed Hard 6ix, based on their novel Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, and starring Tone Trump, Ashley Antoinette, and Tiffany Marshall. In 2013, he directed 1000's "Life of a DopeBoy" music video and worked production on a film with Sean Lott. He was also working with HBO on the pilot of a television show. In 2015, he wrote and directed White House: The Movie based on his novel The White House. In 2021, Coleman worked as executive producer, writer, and director of the film Everything is Both, co-produced by Ekpe Udoh and starring Barton Fitzpatrick, Stakiah Washington, and Jason Mitchell. The film is based on a short story by Coleman.
Antoinette and Coleman signed Cartel film rights over to Cash Money Content in 2012. Coleman also signed deals with Warner Bros and NBC Universal for television development.
Personal life Their son Quaye was born in 2010. In 2011, they were living in Manhattan, New York City; by 2015, the family lived in a four-bedroom home north of Detroit.
Bibliography Ashley and JaQuavis Year Title Series Publisher Awards Refs 2006 Dirty Money Dirty Money book 1 Urban Books Diary of a Street Diva Dirty Money book 2 2007 Supreme Clientele Dirty Money book 3 Urban Books 2008 The Trophy Wife Urban Books Girls from Da Hood 4 (with Ayana Ellis) Girls from Da Hood book 4 2009 The Cartel Cartel book 1 Urban Books Tale of the Murda Mamas Cartel book 2 2009 New York Times Best Seller2010 Street Literature Book (adult fiction) 2010 Flexin & Sexin Volume 2 Flexin & Sexin anthology book 2 Life Changing Books/Power Play Media The Last Chapter Cartel book 3 Urban Books 2010 New York Times Best Seller Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang 2011 Murderville Murderville book 1 Cash Money Content 2012 Street Literature Book honoree (adult fiction) Crown Urban Books Soft: Cocaine Love Stories 2012 The Epidemic Murderville book 2 Cash Money Content Black Friday: Exposed Urban Books Diamonds are Forever Cartel book 4 2012 New York Times Best Seller2013 African Americans on the Move Book Club Street Urban Book of the Year nominee Carter Diamond Cartel prequel, book 1 Urban Audiobooks 2013 Carter Diamond 2 Cartel prequel, book 2 Urban Audiobooks Moving Weight The Black Dahlia Murderville book 3 Cash Money Content 2014 Street Literature Book Award Medal honoree (adult fiction) Murder Mamas Urban Books The Beginning Circle book 1 Blackstone Audio 2014 Empire: A Street Novel Blackstone Audio La Bella Mafia Cartel book 5 Urban Books 2015 Carter Diamond 3 Cartel prequel, book 3 2016 The Demise Cartel book 6 St. Martin's Griffin 2017 Illuminati: Roundtable of the Bosses Cartel book 7 St. Martin's Griffin 2020 The Confessional (audio short) Brilliance Audio Money Devils 1 Cartel book 8 St. Martin's Griffin Long Live the Cartel Cartel book 10 Independently published 2023 Money Devils 2 Cartel book 9 St. Martin's Griffin
JaQuavis Coleman Year Title Series Publisher Awards Refs 2009 The Dopeman's Wife The Dopeman book 1 Urban Books 2010 The Dopefiend The Dopeman book 2 Urban Books The Dopeman: Memoirs of a Snitch The Dopeman book 3 2012 The Day the Streets Stood Still Urban Books 2014 The White House Akashic Books 2017 The Streets Have No King The Streets Have No King book 1 St. Martin's Griffin 2018 African Americans on the Move Book Club Street Lit Writer of the Year nominee 2019 The Streets Have No Queen The Streets Have No King book 2 Urban Books Cubana 2022 The Stiletto Agreement St. Martin's Griffin
Ashley Antoinette Year Title Series Publisher Awards Refs 2009 The Prada Plan Prada Plan book 1 Urban Books 2010 Moth to a Flame Urban Books The Prada Plan 2: Leah's Story Prada Plan book 2 2011 The Prada Plan 3: Green-Eyed Monster Prada Plan book 3 Urban Books 2014 Street Literature Book honoree (adult fiction) Girls from Da Hood 6 (with Amaleka McCall) Girls from Da Hood book 6 2012 Guilty Gucci Urban Books 2013 African Americans on the Move Book Club Female Author of the Year nominee 2013 April: No Sex in the City Single Ladies book 1 VH1 Books Raquel: Trois Single Ladies book 2 Keisha: A Couple of Favors Single Ladies book 3 2014 The Prada Plan 4: Love and War Prada Plan book 4 Urban Books Love Burn Love Burn book 1 Ashley Antoinette Inc. 2015 Love Burn 2 Love Burn book 2 Ashley Antoinette Inc. Love Burn 3 Love Burn book 3 Official Writers League Luxe Luxe book 1 St. Martin's Griffin 2016 Love Burn 4 Love Burn book 4 Independently published Luxe Two: A LaLa Land Addiction Luxe book 2 St. Martin's Griffin 2017 The Prada Plan 5 Prada Plan book 5 St. Martin's Griffin 2018 Ethic Ethic book 1 Ashley Antoinette Inc. 2019 African Americans on the Move Book Club eBook of the Year nominee Ethic 2 Ethic book 2 Ethic 3 Ethic book 3 2019 Christmas with the Okafors Ethic tie-in Ashley Antoinette Inc. Ethic 4 Ethic book 4 Ethic 5 Ethic book 5 Ethic 6 Ethic book 6 2020 African Americans on the Move Book Club Urban Book of the Year winner 2020 Butterfly Butterfly book 1 St. Martin's Griffin 2021 African Americans on the Move Book Club Urban Book of the Year nominee; USA Today bestseller Butterfly 2 Butterfly book 2 Butterfly 3 Butterfly book 3 2020 Black Girls Who Write Best Black Urban Romance The Invitation: An Ethic Holiday Edition Ethic tie-in Ashley Antoinette Inc. The Girl Behind the Wall (with Quaye Coleman) 2022 Butterfly 4 Butterfly book 4 St. Martin's Griffin
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