Daniel Duval

Background

About Daniel Duval

As an aspiring author since age eleven, I knew I wanted to spend my days helping people and spend my evenings writing stories about magic and superheroes. I pursued that dream during my undergrad as an English and Communications double major and I even worked on (and submitted to) the literary magazine Jigsaw, eventually earning the title of club secretary. As I got older, I realized the best stories were those inspired by true experiences. So, I joined the Peace Corps and fled the continent in pursuit of a great perhaps. I spent two years volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa teaching Language Arts, leading afterschool Writing clubs, and chasing the village dogs. There, I learned that having access to reading material was only half the battle to improving literacy and how important it was to actually teach students how to read. Then, they would learn how to write their own stories so that the rest of the world would know what life was truly like in Africa. Upon my return to the USA, I worked as a Therapeutic Support Staff in hopes of working with students on a more personal setting and creating a bond that would inspire them to learn as well as socialize with their peers. All the while, I enrolled in an MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction to hone my craft as an author and even completed my first Young Adult Fantasy manuscript. These days, I continue to connect students with quality literature by way of working for Scholastic Book Fairs. However, I seek the opportunity to connect readers with fresh, talented writers by day at a larger scale while I continue to write my own stories by night. I know I have a lot to learn, but you won't find anyone more passionate about their writing and talking about books than me.