Curtis has written a total of eight novels and has penned introductions to several prominent books in addition to contributing articles to several newspapers and magazines.

Following the success of his first two novels, he founded the Nobody but Curtis Foundation in an effort to improve literacy levels amongst children and young adults in North America and Africa.

Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Curtis worked as an autoworker for General Motors for thirteen years following his high school graduation.

[3][5][6] His ability to authentically portray the experiences of children and share history in a way that encourages readers to learn more has made him a widely-taught author in elementary and middle schools.

[citation needed] In middle school, Curtis's favorite books were To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James A.

[9] His parents valued reading and exposed Curtis and his siblings to a wide variety of books, taking them to the library every Saturday.

[5][10] However, in an interview with the New York Public Library, Curtis stated that, despite reading a lot, he found it difficult to connect to books and stories because they were not by or about black people like himself.

[11] The summer after graduating from high school, Curtis became a member of a Lansing-based theatrical/musical group called Suitcase Theater which rehearsed on Tuesdays and Thursdays and performed musical numbers and the works of Langston Hughes.

[11] Due to his poor performance in school and the competitive wage being offered at Flint's General Motors Fisher Body Plant No.

[13] While in college, Curtis took a black literature course that introduced him to authors like Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Toni Morrison.

[7][10] Curtis recalls hating working in the factory, despite the steady wages and benefits, and even having nightmares about hanging car doors.

[4][11] He worked as a groundskeeper at Stonegate Manor housing cooperative in Flint, served as the Flint campaign co-manager for United States Senator Donald Riegle in 1988, as a customer service representative for MichCon in Detroit, as a temporary worker for Manpower in Detroit, and as a warehouse clerk for Automated Data Processing in Allen Park, Michigan.

[5] In his conversation with interviewer and State University of West Georgia Professor Peter E. Morgan, Curtis notes that he was inspired by Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God to personify Death from Kenny's perspective in The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963.

[5] Curtis grew up in a self-contained Black neighborhood and recalls his lack of day-to-day interactions with races outside his own, so he felt that Kenny would have a similar experience within his novel.

[12] In an interview with Nancy Johnson and Cyndi Giorgis, Curtis said that he chose to write there because he enjoyed the energy that kids provide and felt that the librarians were particularly wonderful.

[12] Curtis writes all of his stories in longhand and tends to be an unstructured writer, choosing to follow the voices of his characters rather than outline a specific plot.

[16] He identifies Toni Morrison as one of his favorite authors because of the beauty of her language and her ability to write about difficult topics in an eloquent and expert manner.

[13] Curtis enjoys writing historical fiction because it provides a sense of reality and allows him to explore important stories that have not been told or widely taught to young readers.

[3][20] Through this writing, he hopes to help his readers recognize the importance of history and how it affects all people as well as encourage them to learn more about the historical events he includes in his novels.