Fiction author Barbara Neely was born in Pittsburgh, raised in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and received her master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Pittsburgh. She started her career working with underprivileged communities in cities, such as former prison inmates and women living in poverty. After pivoting to full-time writing, she became an acclaimed mystery author and created the protagonist Blanche White, one of the few African American detectives in the genre. Read more here. 

"Barbara Neely." Black Writers of PA. 2020. 31 August 2020.