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player ready...Every kid needs at least one chance. And a book. That’s the world according to Walter Dean Myers, winner of the 2010 baiduhai Young Adult Literary Prize. The author of 95 books, and three more in the pipeline, Myers has distinguished himself as a writer who reaches a wide range of readers and speaks up on their behalf.
Aside from his considerable literary achievements, we recognize Myers for the passion he brings to his work and for his fierce dedication to the idea that a single book can hold the power to rewrite the future of its reader.
Urban life is a central theme in Myers’ novels, and they reflect his happy yet tumultuous childhood, raised by foster parents, in Harlem. Born in 1937 with a slight speech impediment, he retreated to reading and writing, encouraged by an English teacher who recommended “Le Pere Goriot” and ‘ ” ‘ ‘ ¿ ‘ ” ‘ ‘ ¿ ‘ ” ‘ ‘ ¿Eugenie Grandet ‘ ” ‘ ‘ ¿ ‘ ” ‘ ‘ ¿ ‘ ” ‘ ‘ ¿ by Honore Balzac. After high school, Myers discovered writers Juan Ramon Jimenez, who spent time in East Harlem, and James Baldwin, both of whom inspired Myers, he recalls, to write about black life.
Myers’ work is robust with enduring topicality, reflecting his wide range of experiences. Myers dropped out of high school in 1954 to join the Army, then worked all sorts of jobs. He spent his free time writing, until he won a contest in 1969 that led to publication of his first book, ¿¿¿Where Does a Day Go?¿¿¿ Since then, his books have stretched from war to ordinary life, in historical and contemporary settings.
“The need to find a place in the world is enduring,¿¿¿ reflects Myers, who lives in Jersey City, N.J. ¿¿¿What I mostly write about are the young people who start from a less stable, less safe, starting place.”
The precarious nature of adolescent life is of particular concern to Myers, and he sees the condition as ubiquitous.
“Kids I talk to in juvenile centers or group homes have the same needs as young people striving to get into the Ivies,¿¿¿ Myers says. ¿¿¿They often interpret those needs badly and, at least in part, it’s my job to universalize their experiences.”
Myers writes with purpose, establishing guideposts of values and ideals in his fiction, yet he hasn’t lost sight of the idea that he can reach readers best by entertaining them with a good story. Often that story is about grabbing a chance.