Robert Lipsyte graduated from Columbia University and began working as a copy boy for the sports section of the "New York Times." Soon afterwards, he had his own sports column and eventually a television program, "The Eleventh Hour." As host of that program, he met boxing manager Cus D'Amato and it was this meeting that prompted Lipsyte to write his first young adult novel, THE CONTENDER, which is about boxing. Lipsyte waited 10 years before publishing his next work for young adults, ONE FAT SUMMER, which was a reflection on his own childhood and was followed by two sequels--SUMMER RULES and THE SUMMERBOY. In 1991 he returned to the world of boxing with THE BRAVE, which reintroduced the character of Albert Brooks, who readers first met in THE CONTENDER nearly 25 years earlier. In 2001, Lipsyte was named the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.