Daniel Keyes (1927-2014) Born in Brooklyn in 1927, Daniel Keyes worked as a merchant seaman, editor and university lecturer. He published four other novels, but Flowers for Algernon, originally a short story, for which he won the Hugo Award, later expanded into the Nebula Award-winning novel and adapted as an Oscar-winning film (Charly, 1968) remains his best-known work. Daniel Keyes had a masters degree in English and American literature and was a Professor of English and Creative writing. He died in 2014.