Daniel Ali was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Growing up in the gritty urban environment of North Jersey during the 70s and 80s wasn't easy. Hanging out on "the block" with his friends while coming from a family of educated professionals, was paradoxical, to say the least, but it proved to be a life advantage many of his peers didn't have. "I learned the value of having two educations in this life, one in the classroom and one on the streets. That's at the core of who I am today." -Daniel Ali

As a former Corrections Officer in Hudson County, Daniel Ali saw countless numbers of his childhood friends suffer the indignity of incarceration and the staggering residual effects of recidivism. After witnessing, firsthand, the destruction of so many young lives due to the scourge of drugs in the American inner cities and the violence associated with the drug culture, Ali switched his focus to working with the youth in the hopes of helping them to avoid the traps and pitfalls of his generation.

Today Daniel Ali works as a Youth Program Coordinator with the Jersey City Department of Recreation and Youth Development. He is well known in the community for his tireless efforts on behalf of the youth of Jersey City. He interacts daily with at-risk youth in the Black and Latino community and works in connection with other community and political activists to address the socio-economic issues affecting people of color in particular and poor people in general.

Across the Middle is the second novel from Ali in less than two years. His first, Love and the Game, published in June 2020, has achieved tremendous success and has been adapted into a Medium Feature Film, currently showcasing in some of the top Film Festivals around the world. He is also the author of, Learning to be Me, a selection of original poems first published in 2019, illustrated by his nine-year-old daughter, Isabella. He is currently working on several projects including the first "authorized" biography of Jersey City native and multi-platinum recording artist, Cliff Perkins, of the acclaimed music group, Soul Generation. The book is titled Beyond Body and Soul and is scheduled to be published in 2022.