Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author, a 2001 NAACP Image Award recipient for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, and a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award winner for Body of Work in Urban Fiction. He has been cited in 2009 by the City Council of Philadelphia for his work in Urban Literacy, and his books have sold two million copies worldwide. A graduate of Howard University's School of Communications in 1991, Tyree has been recognized as one of the most renowned contemporary writers in America. He is also credited with spawning the genre of urban contemporary fiction with his celebrated novel, Flyy Girl, first published in 1993.