Daniel F. Keyes (born August 9, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York) is an American author best known for his award-winning short story "Flowers for Algernon". Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000.
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Biography
Early life and career
At age 17, Daniel Keyes joined the U.S. Maritime Service as ship's purser. He obtained a B.A. in psychology from Brooklyn College, and after a stint in fashion photography, 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 weekends. In the early 1950s, he was editor of the pulp magazine Marvel Science Fiction for publisher Martin Goodman, who also published the comic book lines Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, the 1940s and 1950s precursors, respectively, of Marvel Comics. After Goodman ceased publishing pulps in favor of paperback books and men's adventure magazines, Keyes became associate editor of Atlas Comics, under editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee. Circa 1952, Keyes was one of several staff writers, officially titled editors, who wrote for such horror and science fiction comics as Journey into Unknown Worlds, for which Keyes wrote two stories with artist Basil Wolverton. From 1955-56, Keyes wrote for the celebrated EC Comics, including its titles Shock Illustrated and Confessions Illustrated, under both his own name and the pseudonyms Kris Daniel and Dominik Georg.
"Flowers for Algernon"
The short story "Flowers for Algernon," written as the diary of a mildly retarded janitor, Charlie, who undergoes experimental surgery and briefly becomes a genius before the effects tragically wear off, was initially published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The title character is a mouse that had undergone the surgery first. The story won the science fiction field's Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction. Keyes went on to adapt it as the Nebula Award-winning, same-name novel in 1966, adding, among other things, a sexual relationship between Charley and his former teacher. The novel has been adapted several times for other media, most prominently as the 1968 film Charly, starring Cliff Robertson, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor, and Claire Bloom.
Later career
Keyes went on to teach creative writing at Wayne State University, and in 1966 became an English and creative writing professor at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, where he was honored as a professor emeritus in 2000. A 1988 edition of his novel Flowers for Algernon states he was a member of the English department at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, circa that year. Keyes' other books include Fifth Sally, The Minds of Billy Milligan, The Touch, Unveiling Claudia, and the memoir .
