Walter Dean Myers . Children’s book writer, author of more than seventy books for children and young adults.
Biographical summary
Myers was born Walter Milton Myers on August 12 , 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia , USA . At age two, Myers’ mother, Mary Green, died, and he was raised by Florence Brown Dean, his father’s ex-wife, and her husband, Herbert Dean. Growing up in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City , Myers, a troubled youth, had difficulty speaking but loved to read. He completed elementary school, but dropped out of Stuyvesant High School twice; once in 1952, and again in 1954. After serving in the United States Army from 1957 to 1960, Myers worked at the Harlem post office and the New York State Department of Labor; he also attended classes at the City College of New York , Columbia University , and SUNY Empire State College, from which he graduated in 1984.
Encouraged by John Oliver Killens, he published his first poem in Delta Review in 1962. Myers wrote for men’s adventure magazines, then won a Writers Digest contest sponsored by the Interracial Book Council for Children with his story Where Does The Day Go? in 1969. Writing first for young children and then for young adults, Myers’ subjects ranged from sports, science fiction, biography, African and African-American history, fantasy, adventure, and even mystery.
Highlights of her prolific and award-winning career include: The Young Landlords (1979), Hoops (1981), The Legend of Tarik (ALA Best Books for Children, 1981), Motown and Didi: A Love Story (Coretta Scott King Award, 1984), The Outside Shot (1984), Fallen Angels (Coretta Scott King Award, 1988), Now Is Your Time! The African American Struggle for Freedom (Coretta Scott King Award, ALA Best Books, Notable Books for Children, 1992), Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (ALA Best Books for Young Adults Award, 1993), Somewhere In Darkness (Newberry Honor Book, 1993), Monster (Michael L. Printz Award, 2000), Bad Boy: A Memoir (2001), Shooter (2004), and Autobiography of My Dead Brother (2005) about his brother’s death in Vietnam. Myers also wrote a biography of John Robinson titled The Brown Condor; Robinson was an African-American pilot and a hero of the Italo-Ethiopian War.
Myers religiously wrote ten pages a day after his morning walk. He lived with his wife, Constance, and son Christopher, the youngest of three children, in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Death
Died on July 1 , 2014 .