Walter Milton Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Myers's mother passed away suddenly when he was just two years old. As a result, he was sent to live with Florence Dean, the first wife of Myers's biological father. Florence Dean and her husband, Herbert Dean, raised Myers in Harlem, New York. Due to his close relationship with his foster family, Myers changed his name to Walter Dean Myers. Throughout his life, Myers reflected fondly on his early years in Harlem. He often cited his church and neighborhood communities as major influences on his later work.
During his childhood, Myers suffered from a speech impediment. Afraid of being teased by his peers, he found solace in books and, later, in writing. Myers dropped out of high school and joined the military in 1954. After serving, Walter returned to writing. He began contributing to local tabloids and magazines. After reading James Baldwin, Myers was inspired to write about his experiences as a black man in the mid-twentieth century. After Myers won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest in 1969, he published Where Does the Day Go?. This book captured the attention of mass audiences and jump-started the author's celebrated career.
Myers's 1999 novel Monster was a finalist for the National Book Award and appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Throughout the course of his career, Myers wrote over 85 books. He has been the recipient of many literary awards, including the Coretta Scott King Award. Myers used his success as an author to advocate for marginalized voices. He frequented prisons, schools, and juvenile detention centers to speak to students, teachers, and librarians, working to bridge the worlds of activism and literature. Myers passed away on July 1, 2014 at the age of 76. His son, Christopher Myers, provided illustrations for many of his father's novels.
Although he has written and published more than one hundred books, Walter Dean Myers is most famous for being the author of Monster, a book in memoir form about a school shooter. His works of fiction are usually directed at a young adult audience,...
Walter Dean Myers's novel Fallen Angels was published in 1988. The novel is based on the author's own experiences as a young American soldier fighting in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 to 1973, but the United States had the most...
Monster is a young-adult drama novel written by Walter Dean Myers. Myers, who spent most of his life in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, drew from his personal and proximal experiences to portray the story of Steve Harmon, an...
If you did not know that this novel is a work of fiction you might find yourself googling the Madison High School shooting of April 22nd. This is the genius of Walter Dean Myers who was so disturbed by the Columbine High School shooting in 1999...
