A native of Bergenfield, New Jersey, Donna graduated from Yale with a degree in Classics and Art History. For a number of years she managed architecture and interpretation at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, and wrote and directed the Witch City’s most popular Halloween theater festival, Eerie Events. She later earned an MFA in film production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

The director of several award-winning short films, including The Night Caller, which aired on PBS and was featured on Ain’t It Cool News, Donna has been a sorority house mother, a Disney/ABC Television Writing Fellow, and a WGA Writer’s Access Project Honoree. Her television credits include the Disney XD animated series, Tron: Uprising; WGN’s Salem; Hallmark’s The Good Witch; Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Shadow and Bone.

Donna is also the author of four highly acclaimed historical novels from Penguin New American Library (The Turncoat, The Rebel Pirate, Mistress Firebrand, and The Dutch Girl) and four bestselling urban fantasy novels from Pocket Star (Cold Iron, Silver Skin, Stone Song, and Blade Dance), writing as DL McDermott. Her short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Albedo One. Donna is married with two cats and divides her time between Salem and Los Angeles.