- Walter Dean Myers Walter Dean Myers, the recipient of the first annual Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, has been a versatile and prolific writer for more than 30 years. Raised in Harlem, the setting for many of his books, he earned a B.A. degree from Empire State College, despite having dropped out of high school. He has received the Newbery Honor Award for Somewhere in the Darkness and ...dept.kent.edu/virginiahamiltonconf/Myersbio.htm