Nico Walker

Nicholas "Nico" Walker (born February 28, 1985) is an American author and US Army veteran currently serving time in prison for bank robbery. His semi-autobiographical debut novel, Cherry, was published by Alfred A. Knopf on August 14, 2018.

Career
From 2005 to 2006, Walker served as an Army medic in Iraq, going on more than 250 combat missions. After returning to civilian life, he suffered from an undiagnosed PTSD, depressed and traumatized, and became addicted to heroin. To fund his habit, he robbed 10 banks around Cleveland in a span of 4 months, beginning in December 2010. He was arrested in April 2011, pleaded guilty in 2012 and was given an 11-year sentence. In 2013, while Walker was behind bars in the Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky, he was profiled in BuzzFeed. This led to a correspondence with Matthew Johnson, a publisher at the independent press Tyrant Books. Johnson sent Walker books and encouraged him to write about his life. He spent nearly four years writing and rewriting.

The resulting novel, Cherry, was published by Alfred A. Knopf and is about "the horrors of war and addiction." In the semi-autobiographical novel, a young man drops out of college and enlists in the Army. He comes home in a poor state, becomes addicted to opiates, and starts robbing banks. According to Vulture.com, upon its publication the book received "near-universal praise." It debuted at number 14 on The New York Times bestseller list. Walker has said that he is using money from sales of the book to pay back some of the banks he robbed.

Within days of the book's publication, the movie rights were acquired for $1 million by Joe and Anthony Russo's studio AGBO, with the brothers planning to direct and produce, and the script to be written by Jessica Goldberg and starring Tom Holland.

Cherry was shortlisted for the 2019 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.

Personal life
Walker grew up in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Cleveland. He dropped out of college and enlisted in the Army at the age of 19. For his service in Iraq, Walker received seven medals and commendations. He is scheduled to be released from prison in November 2020.