Leslie Esdaile Banks, born Leslie Ann Peterson, was an extremely prolific author of novels that ranged through all genres. She grew up in Philadelphia and attended higher education at colleges in Pennsylvania, receiving a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and her master’s degree in filmmaking from Temple University. Banks did not begin her career in writing but worked for multiple Fortune 100 firms in corporate marketing, including Hewlett Packard, Xerox, and Digital Equipment Corporation. After this, she ventured into the entrepreneurial world and began work as a marketing consultant. In this capacity she worked for organizations that assisted with improving her community, including promoting its economic development. She always remained committed to enriching her home of Philadelphia and the people who lived there. It wasn’t until 1991 that Banks took her first steps towards her writing career. It was at this time that her daughter, who was six months old, was in an accident at her day care, where she was burned and lost three of her fingers. Banks turned to writing as a way to help pay the subsequent medical bills, and her first book, a romance novel titled Sundance was published in 1996. While she contributed to various newspapers and magazines, Banks mostly focused on writing books. She became an extremely prolific author, writing and publishing over 40 novels and 20 novellas in under 20 years. Her books spanned across numerous genres in addition to romance including, crime, horror, dark fantasy, African American literature, and nonfiction. She used a number of different pen names including L.A. Banks, Leslie Esdaile, Leslie E. Banks, and Leslie Banks and worked with five major publishing companies (Simon and Schuster, St. Martin’s press, BET/Arabesque, Kensington Publishing, and Genesis Press) concurrently. Banks’ works were published to much commercial success and won her numerous awards including being placed on the list of Pennsylvania’s Top 50 Women in Business in 2008, receiving the 2009 Essence Storyteller of the Year award, and the 2009 Romantic Times Booklover’s Career Choice Award for Paranormal Fiction. Throughout her writing career, Banks remained active in promoting and enriching her community. She worked on the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Literacy, as well as being a member of the Philadelphia Free Library’s Board of Trustees. This love of community also extended to her community of fellow authors. Banks was well-loved by her peers, often cited as a mentor and willing to help, especially with the publishing aspect of being an author in which her previous career provided her with experience navigating the business world. She passed away at the height of her career in 2011 at the age of 51 due to complications with cancer.

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