I earned my BFA in Creative Writing from Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, and my MA in Professional Writing & Publishing from Emerson College, Boston, MA. My first short story, “The Funny Company,” was published while I was in college. I haven’t stopped writing since.

I currently serve as Policy Director, Boston University, School of Medicine, Department of Medicine. My career as a medical writer began at Brown University, where I wrote for the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. I continued as a medical writer at the VA Boston Healthcare System, where I wrote about everything from heart disease to serious mental illness. I discovered Annie Fox through VA, when writing about a mental telehealth tool called “The Annie,” which was named after her.

The Woman With A Purple Heart is based on the true story of the first woman to receive a Purple Heart – Lt. Annie Fox, Chief Nurse at Hickam Field’s hospital. Hickam Field was adjacent to Pearl Harbor and got hit just as hard on December 7, 1941. I first wrote this story as a screenplay, titled HICKAM, and it received excellent reviews on the Black List. Because I knew there was so much more to say about Annie and the men and women who served with her, I wrote the novel, which was published by Sourcebooks — an imprint of Penguin Random House — in November 2023.

My screenplay PARAGRAPH 175 was on the first GLAAD List, was featured on the Black List, and was a Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship semifinalist. Because there was so much more to say about the complex and compelling love story between Julian and August — the story’s protagonists — I wrote the novel, also titled Paragraph 175. Please visit my New Works page to learn more.

I’ve also completed a crime mystery novel titled By Night, (visit my Coming Soon page to learn more) and am currently working on a contemporary fiction novel about the ramifications of PTSD among veteran families.

Whether I’m writing a novel or a screenplay, the themes that are most important to me include: Injustice, inequality, prejudice, loss, and love.

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I’m a member of the Author’s Guild and the Historical Novel Society. For inquires about my novels and/or screenplays, you may contact me at diane.hanks96@gmail.com.