Brad Meltzer (born April 1, 1970) is an American novelist, non-fiction writer, TV show creator, and comic book author. His novels touch on the political thriller, legal thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, while he has also written superhero comics for DC Comics, and periodically Marvel Comics, and a series of short biographies of prominent people for young readers.
Brad Meltzer was born on April 1, 1970, in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents, Stewart and Teri Meltzer. He was raised in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. Meltzer has described his childhood home as having very few books, and his early interest in storytelling was shaped by the comic books his father brought home from work in the garment industry.
In 1983, following his father's job loss, the family relocated to Miami, Florida. The family arrived with limited financial resources and initially lived in his grandmother's one-bedroom apartment. Meltzer attended high school in Florida, where he was heavily influenced by his English teacher, Sheila Spicer, whom he credits with recognizing his writing talent and encouraging him to pursue honors-level coursework.
Meltzer was the first in his immediate family to attend a four-year college. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1992 with a degree in history. He subsequently attended Columbia Law School, where he served on the Columbia Law Review and earned his Juris Doctor in 1996.
In 1993, Meltzer lived in Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts with roommate, fellow comic book writer/artist Judd Winick, working in sales at Games magazine by day while working on his first novel by night. Afterwards, Meltzer received his Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School, and was selected to the Columbia Law Review. Meltzer has also been featured as a question on Jeopardy!.
Meltzer's books have appeared on the bestseller lists for fiction, non-fiction (History Decoded), advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), children's books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln), and comic books (Justice League of America, for which he won an Eisner Award).
Meltzer is also responsible for helping find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero at the World Trade Center site, making national news on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Using his TV show, Brad Meltzer's Lost History, he told the story of the missing flag and asked Americans for their help in returning it. Four days later, a former Marine walked into a fire station in Everett, Washington, said that he saw Meltzer's TV show, and that he now wanted to return the flag. Meltzer unveiled the flag at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, where it is now on display.
Known for his thorough research, Meltzer counts former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush as fans, and both have helped him with his research. During Meltzer's research, Bush gave him the secret letter he left for Clinton in the Oval Office desk. In 2018, Meltzer was asked to read to Bush on his deathbed, having been among Bush's favorite authors.
In September 2006, Meltzer participated in a work group with the CIA, the FBI, various psychologists, and Department of Homeland Security intelligence staff to brainstorm new ways that terrorists might attack the U.S.
As an inspirational speaker, Meltzer's TEDx Talk, "How to Write Your Own Obituary", has been viewed over 100,000 times, and prompted TED to ask him to do another TED Talk: "Write Your Story, Change History", which had been viewed over 230,000 times as of February 2025.
His first novel, Fraternity, garnered 24 rejection letters, but he then sold his second novel, The Tenth Justice, while in law school. In 1994, he co-wrote the original swearing-in oath that is taken by AmeriCorps members, and has been delivered by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 1996, Meltzer created one of the earliest author websites for his first published novel, The Tenth Justice. Over the years, every one of Meltzer's thrillers has made The New York Times bestseller list and The Hollywood Reporter has listed him as one of "Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors".
Meltzer's popular "Culper Ring" novels, of which The President's Shadow is the third, imagine that a secret spy ring, founded in real life by George Washington, continues to exist today. His 2013 novel, The Fifth Assassin, follows a killer bent on re-creating the crimes of presidential assassinations from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald. Meltzer's 2018 novel The Escape Artist debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list.
In May 2010, Meltzer released his first nonfiction book, Heroes For My Son, a book he had worked on for almost a decade, beginning on the night his first son was born. The book is part of a two-book deal with Meltzer's publisher. He stated in a May 2010 interview that he was working on Heroes for My Daughter. The book is a collection of stories from the lives of 52 people such as Jim Henson, Rosa Parks, and Mr. Rogers, and was written with the intention of being presented one day to his then-eight-year-old son. It debuted at #2 on The New York Times bestseller list. Heroes for My Daughter also made The New York Times bestseller list.
In January 2014, Meltzer and artist Chris Eliopoulos launched a line of biographies for kids, starting with I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln, which debuted on The New York Times bestseller list. The books are part of a series, Ordinary People Change the World, whose books tell the stories of America's icons in an entertaining way to engage young readers. He followed the initial books with I Am Albert Einstein, I Am Rosa Parks, I Am Lucille Ball, I Am Jackie Robinson, I Am Helen Keller, I Am Martin Luther King, Jr., I Am Jane Goodall, I Am George Washington and I Am Jim Henson. In October 2017, I Am Gandhi and I Am Sacagawea were released. In October 2018, PBS announced an animated adaptation of the series called Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, which debuted in November 2019.
In January 2019, Meltzer released The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, cowritten with Josh Mensch. In May 2020, Meltzer and co-author Josh Mensch released The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President—and Why It Failed, which covers the foiled plot to kill Lincoln in 1861. He followed with The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill in January 2023 and The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed in January 2025.
Meltzer followed director Kevin Smith's run on DC Comics' Green Arrow and created a six-issue story arc for DC Comics' Green Arrow #16–21 (October 2002 – April 2003). Titled "Green Arrow: Archer's Quest", the series follows Green Arrow and Arsenal taking a trip down memory lane to collect items from their past.
In 2004 he wrote the miniseries Identity Crisis, which became one of the most controversial storylines of the decade, one of the top selling books of that decade, and also one of the most popular. It regularly makes the list of DC Comics' "best comics", "best moments", and even "best fights", praised by The New York Times and director Joss Whedon. While the miniseries holds an average score of 7.3 out of 10 at the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, (the lowest issue score going to issue #7, with 5.3, and the highest going to issue #1, with 8.7), it was criticized for its use of sexual violence as a plot device, for retconning events in DC continuity that critics and readers felt harmed the characterization of long-standing DC heroes, and for influencing similar subsequent comics.
Meltzer was one of many writers and artists who contributed to Superman/Batman #26 (June 2006), a tribute book dedicated to Sam Loeb, the son of writer Jeph Loeb, who died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 17. Meltzer scripted pages 11–12 and 19 of the comic book.