Watt Key
American author (born 1970)
Albert Watkins Key Jr., publishing under the name Watt Key and Albert Key, is an American fiction author who is known for writing young-adult survival fiction. He publishes horror fiction for adult readers under the name Albert Key. A resident of Alabama, his debut novel Alabama Moon was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2006 and was the 2007 winner of the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for older readers. It received a 2006 Parents' Choice Award. Alabama Moon has been translated and published in eight languages. In 2015 Alabama Moon was listed by TIME Magazine as one of the top 100 young-adult books of all time.
Alabama Moon was made into a 2009 feature film starring John Goodman.
01Education and career
Key earned a bachelor's degree from Birmingham-Southern College. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a computer programmer.
His debut novel, Alabama Moon, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2006. The novel won the 2007 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award for Older Readers and was selected for the American Library Association's 2008 Best Books for Young Adults list.
02Personal life
Watt currently lives with his wife and three children in Mobile, Alabama.
03Awards and honors
- Alabama Moon (2006)
- American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults
- E. B. White Read Aloud Award, 2007
- ALLA Young Adult Book Award
- Auckland Council librarian's choice
- SIBA Young Adult Book Award, 2007
- Parents' Choice Award Winner
- California Young Reader Medal
- Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Choice Award Master List
- Indiana Young Hoosier Award Master List
- James Medison University Book Award List: Best Books For Young Adults
- Maine Student Book Award Master List
- Missouri Truman Readers Award Master List
- Massachusetts Children's Book Award Master List for 2011
- Volunteer State Book Award Nominees
- Wildcat Book Award Nominees 2008-2009
- Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, children's book nominees 2009
- Dirt Road Home (2010)
- ALLA Young Adult Book Award
- The Cybils Awards Master List
- Fourmile (2012)
- Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year 2013
- 2014-2015 Indian Paintbrush Nominee Titles
- Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year
- Indiana Young Hoosier Award Master List
- Maine Student Book Award Master List
- 2014-2015 MASL Readers Awards Preliminary Nominees
- The Mobile Bay Art & Music Awards (MODDYs) Master list
- South Carolina Children's Book Award Master List 2014
- Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award Master List
04Published works
Novels and collections
- Alabama Moon, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006
- Dirt Road Home, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010
- Fourmile, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012
- Among the Swamp People, The University of Alabama Press, 2015
- Terror at Bottle Creek, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016
- Hideout, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017
- Deep Water, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018
- Bay Boy, The University of Alabama Press, 2019
- Beast, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020
- The Forgotten Coast, (as Albert Key) Penfish Press, 2021
- The Black Hat and Other Tales of Horror, (as Albert Key) Penfish Press, 2021
Memoir, essays
- Swamp Writer series, Mobile Bay Magazine, August 2012 - June 2014
- Bay Boy series, Mobile Bay Magazine, July 2014
Screenplays
- Alabama Moon, Faulkner-McLean Productions, 2009
- L.A. Dirt, Tundra Films, 2014
Sources and credits
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