Alex Myers (born c.1979) is an American author, educator and transgender rights activist.

Early life and education

Myers was born in Paris, Maine. As a teenager, he attended

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

in New Hampshire. He obtained a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, where he studied near Eastern languages and civilizations. While at Harvard he worked to have gender identity added to the school's nondiscrimination clause. Myers obtained an MA in religion from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. He later studied fine arts at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Career

Myers teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy. His first book ''Revolutionary'' was released in 2014. 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. 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. 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." Myers' third book ''The Story of Silence'' (2020) is a retelling of '' Le Roman de Silence''.

Personal life

Myers is a

transgender man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inclu ...

. He began transitioning in 1995 during his senior year at Phillips Exeter Academy. 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. The transition made him the first openly transgender student in the school's history.

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Alex Living people LGBT people from Maine Transgender male writers Harvard University alumni Brown University alumni American transgender writers People from Paris, Maine Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Maine American LGBT rights activists 21st-century American novelists Activists from Maine Phillips Exeter Academy faculty