New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers is one of the premier authors of books for young readers, having won numerous awards over the last thirty years. He is renowned for using meticulous research and his own life experience to inform his writing on hard issues facing youth, and to explore their values and decisions.

He is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award five times (Slam; Now is Our Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom; Fallen Angels; Motown & Didi, and The Young Landlords) and two Newberry Honors (Somewhere in the Darkness and Scorpions). His book, Monster, was the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, a National Book Award Finalist, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and is required reading for all 9th graders in New York City. He has been chosen to deliver the 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, a distinction reserved for an individual who has made significant contributions to the field of children's literature.

Walter Dean Myers grew up in Harlem, which is the setting for many of his books. He currently lives in Jersey City, NJ.

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