Diana Peterfreund has been a costume designer, a cover model, and a food critic. Her travels have taken her from the cloud forests of Costa Rica to the underground caverns of New Zealand (and as far as she’s concerned, she’s just getting started). Diana graduated from Yale University in 2001 with dual degrees in Literature and Geology, which her family claimed would only come in handy if she wrote books about rocks. Now, this Florida girl lives with her husband, her daughter, and their dog in Washington D.C., and writes books that rock.

Her first novel, Secret Society Girl (2006), was described as “witty and endearing” by The New York Observer and was placed on the New York Public Library’s 2007 Books for the Teen Age list. The follow-up, Under the Rose (2007) was deemed “impossible to put down” by Publisher’s Weekly, and Booklist called the third book, Rites of Spring (Break) (2008), “an ideal summer read.” The final book in the series, Tap & Gown, was released in 2009. All titles are available from Bantam Dell in North America.

Her first young adult novel, Rampant, an adventure fantasy about killer unicorns and the virgin descendants of Alexander the Great who hunt them, was released by Harper Collins in 2009. It was an Indie Next Pick in winter of 2009 and appeared on the American Library Association’s list of Popular YA Paperbacks in 2011. The sequel, Ascendant, was picked as one of the top ten YA novels of 2010 by The Daily Beast.

In 2010, Diana published her first short story, “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” in the anthology Zombies vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier. The collection received a starred review from School Library Journal, which singled out her story, saying it would “wow readers”, and another starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, which called Diana’s contribution a “highlight.” “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” was also chosen for inclusion in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Five anthology.

Also in 2010, she published Morning Glory, a novelization of the Paramount picture written by Aline Brosh McKenna (27 Dresses, The Devil Wears Prada), and “Errant,” an original, historical short story set in the killer unicorniverse, in the anthology Kiss Me Deadly, edited by Trisha Telep.

She also contributed to the non-fiction anthologies, Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, edited by Jennifer O’Connell (Pocket Books, 2007), The World of the Golden Compass, edited by Scott Westerfeld (BenBella Books, 2007),Through the Wardrobe, edited by Herbie Brennan (BenBella Books, 2008), and Mind-Rain, edited by Scott Westerfeld (BenBella Books, 2009).

Diana’s work has been published in twelve languages. Her upcoming projects include more short stories, a post apocalyptic retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Persuasion, and the conclusion of the killer unicorn trilogy.

When she’s not writing, Diana volunteers at the National Zoo, attempts to grow vegetables in her garden, adds movies she has no intention of ever watching to her Netflix queue, and goes on long hikes with her daughter and her puppy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever named Rio.