Daniel Keyes

Daniel Keyes was an American author, best known for his works in the fantasy, science fiction, and literary fiction genres. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1927 to American Jewish parents, William and Betty. Growing up during the Great Depression, Keyes worked in factories and delivered sandwiches as a young boy. He also worked as an assistant for a delivery man at a bagel bakery in New York City and took on a waiting job as a teenager, using the money he saved to pay for his first year of college tuition at New York University.

Keyes joined the U.S. Maritime Service as a ship's purser at the age of 17. He later obtained a B.A. in psychology from Brooklyn College and earned a Master's Degree in English and American Literature at night while teaching English in New York City public schools during the day and writing on weekends. In the early 1950s, Keyes was the editor of the pulp magazine Marvel Science Fiction for publisher Martin Goodman. He also wrote for horror and science fiction comics, including Journey into Unknown Worlds and EC Comics.

Keyes is best known for his Hugo award-winning short story and Nebula award-winning novel, Flowers for Algernon. The story is written as progress reports of a mentally disabled man, Charlie, who undergoes experimental surgery and briefly becomes a genius before the effects tragically wear off. The novel has been adapted several times for other media, including the 1968 film Charly, which starred Cliff Robertson and Claire Bloom. Keyes won the Hugo Award in 1959 and the Nebula Award in 1966 for his work on Flowers for Algernon.

Keyes went on to teach creative writing at Wayne State University and became an English and creative writing professor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was honored as a professor emeritus in 2000. His other books include The Fifth Sally, The Minds of Billy Milligan, The Touch, Unveiling Claudia, and the memoir Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writer's Journey. Keyes passed away in 2014, leaving behind a legacy as a talented and influential author.