Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the author of six novels. The latest—Lazaretto—was published April 12, 2016, as her first novel, the critically-acclaimed Tumbling celebrated twenty years. She mines the city of Philadelphia for her material. The blocks and neighborhoods themselves become characters as she tells stories of everyday Black people existing in families and communities; characters faltering, yielding to their desires, falling, fighting, climbing, reaching for their better selves. Her essays have appeared in Essence Magazine, Philadelphia Magazine and The Atlantic. Twice awarded the American Library Association Black Caucus Literary Award for Fiction, she is also a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant. She is a past lecturer in the writing program at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband Greg.