About

Meet the Author

A Life Devoted to the Craft of Storytelling

“ Asad taught me that every life is a novel waiting to be written. JJ taught me that every novel needs a plot twist nobody sees coming. I just brought the audacity to write it all down.

Charlie Glass is a writer, storyteller, and self-proclaimed professional troublemaker. Deeply inspired by the life and wisdom of Asad Hussain Shah — her mentor and the subject of her debut book — Charlie writes with the kind of raw honesty that makes readers uncomfortable in the best way possible.

Her best friend JJ Carson is her creative partner-in-crime, co-conspirator, and the person she calls at 3am when a character wont behave. Together with Asad and JJ, Charlie has built a world of stories that blur the line between biography, fiction, and pure magic.

The Full Story

The Journey

How It All Happened

From scribbling in notebooks to publishing four books — a timeline of chaos, friendship, and a lot of caffeine.

2010

Meeting Asad

Charlie met Asad Hussain Shah at a literary conference in London. One conversation turned into ten hours. He became her mentor, her inspiration, and the reason she believed writing could change lives.

2013

Enter JJ Carson

Through Asad, Charlie met JJ Carson — a wildly creative soul with zero filter and a heart of gold. They became instant best friends. JJ pushed Charlie to stop talking about writing and actually do it.

2018

First Book: The Weight of Light

Charlie published her debut novel — a deeply personal literary fiction that surprised everyone, including herself. Written in 11 months of obsessive midnight sessions. Critics called it haunting. JJ called it about time.

2020

Charlie and the 40 Thieves

Lockdown hit and Charlie went slightly mad. The result? A genre-bending adventure novel that is part heist caper, part Arabian Nights remix. It became a cult favorite overnight.

2024

Asad Hussain Shah: Life Story

The book Charlie was always meant to write. Asads life story told through the lens of someone who adores him. A biography that reads like a love letter to mentorship, courage, and never playing it safe. Currently a bestseller.

How I Write

Rules Are For People Who Run Out of Ideas

Here is the thing nobody tells you about writing — there are no rules. Or rather, there are thousands of rules, and they all contradict each other, and the best writers break every single one. Asad taught me that. He said: "Write like you are telling a secret to your best friend at 3am." So that is exactly what I do. Every book starts with a conversation I cannot stop having in my head.

My process is beautifully chaotic. I write in coffee shops, on napkins, in voice memos while walking the dog. JJ once found an entire chapter outline written on the back of a pizza box. She framed it. It is hanging in her office now. I believe that the best stories live in the messy, unplanned moments — the ones that surprise even the person writing them.

I write about real people doing extraordinary things they did not know they were capable of. About friendships that change the trajectory of your entire life. About mentors who see something in you before you see it in yourself. Every single book I have written started with a real person who made me think: the world needs to know this story.

Who Shaped Me

Asad Hussain Shah — mentor, legend, the reason I write
JJ Carson — best friend, first reader, chaos enabler
Gabriel Garcia Marquez — proved magic is real
Nora Ephron — taught me funny is powerful
Every barista who let me stay past closing

Milestones

First Book Published 2018
Bestseller List Debut 2020
4 Books and Counting 2024
JJ Finally Read All Four 2025

Critical Acclaim

What Critics Are Saying

“

Glass writes with the precision of a surgeon and the tenderness of a poet. This is fiction at its most luminous and essential.

The New York Times — Book Review

“

A masterwork of contemporary fiction. Glass has an extraordinary ability to illuminate the shadows of the human heart.

The Guardian — Literary Review

“

Haunting, beautiful, and deeply humane. Charlie Glass is one of the defining voices of our generation.

Publishers Weekly — Starred Review