Walter Dean Myers is an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 author of young adult literature

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

. Myers has written over fifty books, including novels and nonfiction works. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award

Coretta Scott King Award

The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association...

 for African American authors five times. One of his novels, Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels (Myers novel)

Fallen Angels is a 1988 young adult novel written by Walter Dean Myers, about the Vietnam war. It won the 1989 Coretta Scott King Award. Fallen Angels is listed as number 24 in the American Library Association's list of 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990–2000 due to its use of profanity...

, has made the American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

's list of frequently challenged books, due to adult language and its realistic depiction of the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

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Myers was the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award

Michael L. Printz Award

The Michael L. Printz Award is an annual award in the United States for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a school librarian from Topeka, Kansas, who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association...

, for Monster. He won the Margaret Edwards Award in 1994.

Where Does the Day Go? Council on Interracial Books for Children Award, 1968 .

ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 1993.

Myers is a three-time finalist for the National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

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