L. A. Banks was named a 2010 Living Legend by the Black Alumni Society of University of Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the 2009 Romantic Times Booklover's Career Choice Award for Paranormal Fiction, was also named one of Pennsylvania's Top 50 Women in Business for 2008, as well as won the 2008 Essence Storyteller of the Year award. Ms. Banks has written over 42 novels and contributed to 23 novellas. She mysteriously shape-shifts between the genres of romance, women's fiction, crime/suspense thrillers, and paranormal lore. She is a proud member of The Liars Club, is a Board of Trustee member for the Philadelphia Free Library and serves on the Mayor's Commission on Literacy. Banks is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania Wharton undergraduate program with a Master's in Fine Arts from Temple University. She is a full-time writer living and working in Philadelphia.