SUNY Empire State College presents: Walter Dean Myers 4.30 @ 7 pm

Critically Acclaimed Author and Alumnus Walter Dean Myers ’84 to Speak at Hartsdale

The New York Times Best-selling Writer of more than 100 books for Children and Young People Appears as Part of the Ambassadors for Community Engagement Lecture Series

SUNY Empire State College alumnus Walter Dean Myers ’84, a critically acclaimed New York Times best-selling author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, will speak from 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, April 30, at 200 North Central Ave., Hartsdale, NY.

Urban teenagers, and young, economically disadvantaged African-Americans in particular, are frequent subjects of his books. Myers also writes poetry and nonfiction.

Recently the Times published related opinion pieces, “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Book?”, by Myers, and “The Apartheid of Children’s Literature,” by his son and collaborator, Christopher Myers.

The genesis for these items was a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, which found that of the 3,200 books published in 2013 only 93 were by or about black people.

Upon receiving the college’s 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award, Myers said, “Empire State College was a major influence in my life. Although I enrolled with an offhand interest in getting a degree, I was introduced to the role of prisons and their effect on young people, an interest I have written about extensively.”

Myers’ appearance is the second in the college’s Ambassadors for Community Engagement Lecture Series. The lectures are free and open to the public.

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