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Alex Myers

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Alex Myers
Bornc.1979
Paris, Maine, U.S.
Education
Website
alexmyerswriting.com

Alex Myers (born c.1979) is an American author, educator and transgender rights activist.

Early life and education

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Myers was born in Paris, Maine.[1] As a teenager, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.[2] He obtained a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, where he studied near Eastern languages and civilizations.[3] While at Harvard he worked to have gender identity added to the school's nondiscrimination clause.[4] Myers obtained an MA in religion from Brown University.[3] He later studied fine arts at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.[4]

Career

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Myers taught English at Phillips Exeter Academy, and currently serves as the director of the Mountain School of Milton Academy.[5][6] His first book Revolutionary was released in 2014.[4][2] Based on the life of Deborah Sampson, the focus of the novel is a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to fight in the American Revolutionary War.[7][8][9] Released in 2019, his novel Continental Divide follows Ron Bancroft who grows up as a tomboy, comes out as a teenager and travels west to find himself.[10][11] In an interview with New Hampshire Public Radio Myers discussed how his own experience with transitioning was reflected in the main character Ron in his novel Continental Divide explaining: "The parallels in my own life would be a rural childhood, a feeling of always being a boy despite society telling me that I was a girl, and then going off to a more urban college experience with a bit more exposure to a range of differences."[12] Myers' third book The Story of Silence (2020) is a retelling of Le Roman de Silence.[13]

Personal life

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Myers is a transgender man.[4][1] He began transitioning in 1995 during his senior year at Phillips Exeter Academy.[2] Having studied the first three years as a woman, he returned to campus senior year with his hair cut and requested that he be called Alex.[1] The transition made him the first openly transgender student in the school's history.[5][14]

Publications

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Novels

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  • Revolutionary (2014)
  • Continental Divide (2019)
  • The Story of Silence (2020)
  • The Symmetry of Stars (2021)

Non-fiction

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  • Supporting Transgender Students: Understanding Gender Identity and Reshaping School Culture (2021)

Articles

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  • Myers, Alex (May 14, 2018). "Trans Terminology Seems Like It's Changing All the Time. And That's a Good Thing". Slate Magazine. Retrieved September 10, 2022.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Hawkins, Eric (March 27, 2016). "Transitioning to Alex Myers". Foster's Daily Democrat. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Spindel, Barbara (February 22, 2014). "Interview with Alex Myers, author of 'Revolutionary'". SFGATE. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Alex Myers - About". December 20, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Sambuchino, Chuck. "Author Interview: Alex Myers, Author of the Historical Novel REVOLUTIONARY". Writer's Digest. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Steffens, Daneet (2020). "Alex Myers". Phillips Exeter Academy. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  6. ^ "Director's Welcome". The Mountain School. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  7. ^ "Revolutionary". Kirkus Reviews. October 5, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  8. ^ "Revolutionary by Alex Myers". www.publishersweekly.com. 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  9. ^ Yarwood, Arielle (March 2, 2014). "'Revolutionary' by Alex Myers". Lambda Literary. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  10. ^ "Continental Divide". Kirkus Reviews. September 2, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  11. ^ Williamson, Em (March 2022). "Continental Divide by Alex Myers". American Book Review. 43 (1): 82–84. doi:10.1353/abr.2022.0018. S2CID 251732211.
  12. ^ Biello, Peter (November 8, 2019). "The Bookshelf: Author Alex Myers Challenges Gender Norms in New Novel". New Hampshire Public Radio. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  13. ^ "The Story of Silence by Alex Myers". www.publishersweekly.com. 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  14. ^ Kinzler, Kristen (April 15, 2022). "SWAG celebrates trans visibility with talk from author and activist Alex Myers". The Bowdoin Orient. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
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