Alex Myers is an American author, educator and transgender rights activist.

Early life and education

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

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]

Personal life

Myers is a female-to-male transgender person.^[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]

Publications

Novels

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

Non-fiction

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

Articles

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

References