
Omar Tyree
Award-Winning Author
Omar Tyree, is a New York Times best-selling author, journalist, lecturer, poet, screenwriter, songwriter, playwrite, host, blogger, publishing consultant and literacy advocate, who has won a 2001 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award for Body of Work in Urban Fiction, a 2008 Citation from the City Council…
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Full Bio
Omar Tyree, is a New York Times best-selling author, journalist, lecturer, poet, screenwriter, songwriter, playwrite, host, blogger, publishing consultant and literacy advocate, who has won a 2001 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award for Body of Work in Urban Fiction, a 2008 Citation from the City Council of Philadelphia for the African-American Children’s Book Fair, and a 2010 HBCU Legends Award for his tiresome work in urban literacy.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from the prestigious Central High School in 1987, Tyree first attended the University of Pittsburgh as a Pharmacy major and an aspiring football player. After spending his first two years at Pitt, he found his new passion and calling as a writer and storyteller, penning his first published series, “The Diary of a Freshman” along with two novels; Colored, On White Campus, (now titled College Boy in his Urban Griot series) and Flyy Girl, which became a contemporary urban classic that spawned an entire genre of so-called “urban/street lit” books.
Tyree transferred to the respected HBCU of Howard University to finish his education as a writer in the Fall of 1989. Leaving the English Department and the School of the Liberal Arts for the School of Communications, he graduated cum laude with a degree in Print Journalism in the Fall of 1991. While at Howard, he created, produced and published “Food For Thought” a student opinion column in The Hilltop newspaper, along with publishing several Washington, DC-based news articles for the Black Press.
Upon graduation from Howard, Tyree established his own publishing company, MARS Productions in early 1992 at the tender age of 23. He then self-published and marketed his first three novels, including Capital City, which chronicled Washington, DC’s violent drug culture, and went on to sell 25,000 copies of his first three titles in mostly African-American book stores with distribution sources from Newport News, Virginia, to Queens, New York.
By the Spring of 1995, Tyree’s publishing activity attracted the attention of several major publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster, where he signed his first two-book publishing deal for a $250,000 advance at age 26. As they say, the rest is his-story as Tyree went on to publish 14 straight novels with Simon & Schuster. He also published two short story books, including a children’s book, 12 Brown Boys, that was picked up by Scholastic and a non-fiction business book, The Equation, on entrepreneurship with John Wiley & Sons.
The new novel, All Access, becomes Tyree’s 28th published book with more than 2.5 million copies sold worldwide, including six original ebooks and co-authoring Mayor For Life; The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr. Tyree’s books have created a worlwide brand name in the publishing industry that has generated more than $30 million.
He has also been published in five anthology books and several major newspapers, including; The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The News Journal and The Charlotte Post, along with several national magazines, including; Ebony, Essence, Upscale, Uptown, The Black Collegian and The Washington View. He has also been featured on national blog web sites; The Huffington Post and TheDailyVoice.com.
Along with dozens of literacy awards from various national organizations, Tyree has founded and formed his own nonprofit arm of the Urban Literacy Project (ULP), where he highlights “The 5 Key Components of Literacy” (Reading, Writing, Thinking, Visualization and Application). He published 12 Brown Boys for young urban readers in September of 2008 and continues his tireless community work in urban literacy.
Hailed as one of the most passionate and informed speakers on the subjects of art, business, community, culture, education and entertainment, Tyree has been a featured lecturer at more than 60 major American institutions, colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Michigan State, Texas A&M and UCLA.
Most recently, Omar Tyree’s urban classic Flyy Girl trilogy novel series was optioned for a feature film production by Code Black and Lions Gate Films, starring Love & Basketball Sanaa Lathan. And on Tuesday, October 6, 2015, Tyree will launch his new publishing imprint OTI (Omar Tyree Incorporated) with the explosive release of his latest and most timely novel, All Access.
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LITTLE RIVER BAND OF OTTAWA INDIANS
Our speaker was great and the crowd enjoyed her! She was very engaging. Thank you again PDA for the great list of suggestions!

MEDTRONIC
Everything went great! and our speaker was wonderful! Thank you so much for all your help PDA! Looking forward to the next one.

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI – KANSAS CITY
I hope that this message finds you well. We had a phenomenal time with Atsuko this past Thursday. We wanted to just let you know how amazing she was. All those that were in attendance thoroughly enjoyed her and had nothing but amazing things to say about her. Thank you for working with us to make sure this happened!

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
We had a fantastic day with Inge! She was very engaging with all those that attended. Her personal stories about the holocaust were very special and we were moved that she was willing to share them with everyone. Thank you again, PDA for all your hard work and dedication to make this program such a success!

SALT LAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Dear PDA Group, Thank you so much for your hard work in scheduling our speaker! From the moment we reached out to you the first time, you worked with us on all details and logistics and kept us up-to-date on the progress. Thank you for all your hard work on making our event such a success! We couldn't have done it without you and your team!

SAP COMPANY
Thank you again, Dr. Kimbrough, for a great presentation, our attendees are still talking about it!

CAMPUS LABS
Dr. Henry Lee's presentation was entertaining, insightful and wise. I, and everyone at Pfizer, especially appreciate the remarks you directed about following your passion and preparing yourself to excel. Thank you, everyone, at PDA for helping to make this happen!

PFIZER
The event was successful! I received many messages expressing how awesome, outstanding and inspiring Ms. Webb-Christburg's speech was."

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MEMORIAL BREAKFAST, BOSTON, MLK SPEAKER
Everything went well. Atsuko was very easy to work with and the students enjoyed her performance! Thank you again for your recommendation and I hope to work with you again in the future!

CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Dr. Novello left this morning after a very successful event on our campus! Thank you PDA Group for your help from the first phone to the last you were with us every step of the way.

GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
Jordan Carlos was very very entertaining! A majority of students who answered the event survey indicated they really enjoyed Jordan and definitely will bring him back!

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
On behalf of myself and my organization Entertainment Unlimited the Campus Programming Board of Ferris State University, we thank you PDA and Dan for a successful event!! Dan was magnificent! Students really enjoyed the presentation. I know I did. Can't wait to bring in more programs with PDA Group.

FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY
It was a great pleasure to work with PDA Group! The communication was always prompt, friendly and helpful. We loved the speakers and events we booked through Mr. Peter Walker (PDA Group).

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Thank you, Peter, for all your help, you'll be happy to know that the event went incredibly well! Aneesa Ferreira was by far one of the best speakers we've ever had!

FURMAN UNIVERSITY
Topics
Equation For Life
Intellectual culture vs. Popular Culture
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Images of Women in the Media
Revisiting Dr. King Is the Dream Attained?
Videos
Omar Tyree Visits The New Ballou Hgh School
Omar Tyree the Equation for Life
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