Walter Dean Myers was born August 12, 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, under the name Walter Milton Myers. When he was two years old, his mother died and he was taken in by Florence and Herbert Dean who raised him. In honor of the family who took him in, Myers would later change his middle name from Milton to Dean.
Shortly after being taken in, the Deans took Myers to New York City for work opportunities, and they settled in the Harlem neighborhood. Growing up, Myers was an avid reader who found reading an escape from the problems of the world, partially from issues with a speech impediment. Myers experiences in Harlem helped to shape who he was. He once spotted Langston Hughes, a prominent Harlem Renaissance writer, sitting on the porch of Hughes’ home one day. In this environment, Myers soon developed his own passion for writing.18
Professionally, Walter Dean Myers wrote for several genres, but he was most well-known for his works in young adult fiction. Among these works included Fallen Angels, a story of young man from Harlem who served in the Vietnam War. Another one of his more famous works is Scorpions, which told the tale of a young man who was asked to take possession of a firearm. Additionally, Myers was the talent behind Monster, which told the story of a young kid on trial for murder due to his involvement in a robbery gone wrong. For Monster, Myers was awarded the Coretta Scott King Award as well as the Michael L. Printz Award. He collaborated on some of his works with his son, Christopher.19
On July 1, 2014, Walter Dean Myers passed away at the age of 76 at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, New York.20