Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
Table of Contents
Daniel Keyes
Daniel Keyes was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1927. At the age of 17, Keyes joined the U.S. Maritime Service and worked as a ship’s purser. After leaving the Maritime Service, he attended Brooklyn College (now CUNY), where he earned a B.A. in psychology and later an M.A. in English and American literature. Keyes was a fiction editor for Marvel Science Fiction as well as an English teacher in the New York City schools, where he worked with developmentally challenged adults. The unique combination of Keyes’ interests and experiences can be seen in his award-winning novel, Flowers for Algernon.
Flowers for Algernon was Keyes’s first novel and, though he has since published three more as well as three works of nonfiction, it stands as his greatest literary achievement. In 2000, Keyes published Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writer’s Journey, which describes his initial inspiration for the story as well as his evolving relationship with this enduring work of fiction.
