Alex Myers | |
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Born | c.1979 Paris, Maine, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Education | |
Website | |
alexmyerswriting |
Alex Myers (born c.1979) is an American author, educator and transgender rights activist.
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]
Myers teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy. [5] 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. [6] [7] [8] 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. [9] [10] 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." [11] Myers' third book The Story of Silence (2020) is a retelling of Le Roman de Silence. [12]
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] [13]