Walter Dean Myers  Born August 12, 1937 in West Virginia  Raised in Harlem, New York City  Died July 1, 2014 in New Jersey

Early Life Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia in 1937 Mother died when he was 2 yrs. old Moved to Harlem after being “adopted” by Florence and Herbert Dean at age three

Family At age 4 mother taught him to read Father told “scary” stories Grandfather told “God gonna get ya” kind of stories

Family Considered the Deans his “real” parents Writes about surrogate parenting

Starting School With the ability to read Head full of stories Severe speech impediment Became a behavior problem 5 th grade teacher told him to write and gave him decent books to read

Harlem Grew up in the 40s and 50s Sunday morning Bible school Afternoons at the park, activities at church Famous Afro-Americans still lived there Remembers his years in Harlem before adolescence as good years

Adolescence Placed in accelerated junior high school program Stuyvesant High School Teacher Bonnie Liebow Spent more time out of school Wrote stories and poems Acquired first typewriter

Young Adulthood Thought family’s finances ruled out college Fell into gang culture Dropped out of high school twice At 17 joined the army

Life After the Army “Starving artist” period back in Harlem Job in post office Married and divorced Attended City College and a writer’s workshop at Columbia University Worked at various jobs

Variety of Genre Poetry Short Stories Children’s Books Young Adult Fiction Historical Fiction Non-Fiction

Poetry Began writing poems in Ms. Conway’s 5 th grade class Hasn’t stopped writing since

Children’s Books  Picture books  Juvenile fiction

Young Adult Fiction Realistic urban novels Mystery and adventure Critically acclaimed works

On Being a Young Adult Author “The young adult and middle grade periods of my life were so vivid and, in looking back, so influential in how I would live the rest of my life, that I am drawn to [them] over and over again.” “My ideas come largely from my own background.” “I lived in Harlem, and I write about Harlem.”

Themes Friendships and peer relations Family Individual and social responsibility Love Growing up Finding oneself

Historical Fiction Writes from his own background Enjoys history

Non-Fiction Magazine pieces Children’s books Biographies Historical

Myers and Myers Son Christopher illustrated several of his father’s books

Major Awards ALA Best Books for Young Adults ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award  for lifetime achievement ALA Notable Books ALAN Award  for outstanding contributions to the field of young adult literature Caldecott Honor Book Coretta Scott King Award Michael L. Prinz Award National Book Award Finalist Newberry Honor Book Parents’ Choice Award