Diane Oliver was born on July 28, 1943, in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Her father, William Oliver, was a schoolteacher and her mother, Blanche Rann, was a piano teacher. After attending segregated public schools in Charlotte, she graduated from
West Charlotte High School in 1960 and the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (then known as Women's College of the University of North Carolina) in 1964. Oliver served as managing editor of
The Carolinian, the Women's College student newspaper. She entered the
University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop in 1965. In the summer of 1964, Oliver participated in
Mademoiselle magazine's summer guest editor program for female students, whose alumni also included
Sylvia Plath and
Joan Didion. "Key to the City" became her first published short story, appearing in
Red Clay Reader in 1965, followed by "Health Service" in the November 1965 issue of
Negro Digest. In 1966, Oliver saw her most acclaimed work, "Neighbors", appear in
The Sewanee Review, and "The Closet on the Top Floor" was included in
Southern Writing in the Sixties: Fiction, an anthology. Oliver died in a motorcycle accident on May 21, 1966, in
Iowa City, Iowa. The University of Iowa conferred her
Master of Fine Arts degree posthumously the following month. At the time of her death, she had received relatively little recognition as an author, but obituaries were published by both
Negro Digest and
Jet. "Neighbors" was awarded an
O. Henry Prize in 1967. == Posthumous publications and recognition ==