​​Diane O'Neill is a lifelong Chicago writer:

• She holds a BA in Writing/English with honors from Columbia College and an MFA in Creative Writing with distinction from National University.
• She has worked in the field of disability rights and services for most of her professional life. 
• She is a MOOC (massive open online course) groupie. Since completing "How Writers Write Poetry 2015" (International Writing Program, University of Iowa), seventeen of her poems have been published, and one won an award.
• She completed the 24-hour 2023 Poetry Marathon, and her marathon poem “How to Create a Great Nation” was accepted for their print anthology.
• She belongs to SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). 
• Since 2020, she's enjoyed attending virtual writing sessions with the Office of Modern Composition, the Chicago Writers Circle, the London Writers' Salon, Shut Up and Write, and the Online Creative Collective. 
• In her personal life, she loves walks, Zumba, Sudoku, getting together with friends, and having her son and her daughter-in-law over for pizza and Harry Potter movies. And she loves hosting Game Days for family and friends!
• She's very proud of her son and her daughter-in-law, who are both school social workers.
• She resides with two eccentric cats, Mini and Ronny. She misses Daisy.
• Some favorite books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Together Tea by Marjan Kamali, Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, the Gethsemane Brown mysteries by Alexia Gordon, and the Leonid McGill mysteries by Walter Mosley.
• Favorite picture book: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson.
   
  
  

Diane reads Saturday at the Food Pantry to Girl Scouts!