Robert Cormier

Robert Cormier was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on January 17th, 1925. One of eight children, Cormier's family was poor and moved around his home town frequently. Cormier attended a private Catholic school where he began writing poems in the first grade. When he was only 12 years old, he decided that he wanted to become a professional writer after being encouraged by a nun at the school.

After graduating as head of the class from high school, Cormier attended Fitchburg State College, and it was while attending this school that he had his first short story published. One of his professors, Florence Conlon, sent in a story of his to a Catholic magazine called The Sign without his knowledge and it was chosen to run. After finishing school, Cormier began work scripting radio commercials and later became a journalist at his local newspaper, the Fitchburg Sentinel.

In 1960, Cormier's first Young Adult novel, "Now and at the Hour" was published and was followed by some of his more famous novels, such as "The Chocolate War" (1974) and "I Am the Cheese" (1977).

Cormier was particularly interested in the problems facing young people and wrote Young Adult novels because of that. In his lifetime, Cormier was a renowned journalist and a brilliant literary writer. His awards include, The Phoenix Award in 1997 and a lifetime achievement award called the Edwards Award in 1991.

Cormier's book, "The Chocolate War" has frequently been challenged in schools and libraries for containing sexual activity and bad language among other things. It was named the fourth most challenged book between 1990 and 2000 by the American Library Association. Cormier lived to the age of 75 before dying from lung cancer on November 2nd, 2000.