John Thomas Tuft was born in Pittsburgh in 1954 and he will always consider it to be his home. John is a retired Presbyterian minister and mental health counselor. He wrote a weekly column for a local newspaper in the Pittsburgh area before becoming a novelist and screenwriter. His first novel, EVEN THE DARKNESS, Thomas Nelson, 1994 earned him the praise "John Thomas Tuft is a promising successor to Frederick Buechner..." (Bertram deH. Atwood review, The Outlook magazine, August 1994.) The publishing of that novel led to his being commissioned to write a screenplay about Rwanda's genocide entitled WHILE GOD WAS SLEEPING. (2000) Following a serious car accident, John endured multiple surgeries and disabling complications. He lived for two years with stroke patients and dementia victims while he recovered his health. TEARS ON DIAMONDS, due in 2020, is a collection of the poems he wrote while in these facilities. THE HEALER marks his return to novels. John also currently writes a popular column on Facebook, "Words are magic and writers are wizards" which currently reaches about 1.2 million readers weekly.