Accomplished author David Madden has written nine short stories, one novel and a children’s book.

“An Unknown Soldier” is a story Madden wrote about Vietnam and the suffering it brings upon a soldier’s father, the father being a World War II veteran himself.

Madden met with Nick Checker, his creative writing teacher, twice a month and eventually once a week to complete his book that educates and comforts all who read it.

His children’s book, “Under the Stars,” is told from a child’s perspective about their annual trip to their grandparents’ cottage by the lake.

Madden grew up in Manchester and has lived in Westerly since 1993. He has received a degree in education and taught in the Groton Public School system for 35 years. Madden retired in 2008.

It took Madden three years to write his novel, and he is in the process of revising his short stories. “An Unknown Soldier” originated from a play that Madden wrote during an eight-week class at the Groton Community Center.

Madden enjoyed writing stories even as a child. His favorite authors are Steinbeck and Hemingway.

His response to the pandemic is that “I try to live life as fully as I can and for the most part I succeed.”

He is a dad to two sons, to two stepdaughters, and goes by “DeDe” to two grandchildren.

Lisa Shasha lives in Norwich.