About Matthew

My 4th grade teacher told my parents that I’d be a writer; I’m glad that I could make Ms. Cunningham proud.

As a former professional book editor for Penguin Random House and, most recently, Dey Street Books/HarperCollins, I’ve championed the idea that good stories are worth sharing (as the great Louise Glück once put it, “That whatever the truth is, to speak it is a great adventure”). Throughout my book publishing tenure, I’ve been fortunate to have been at the forefront of platform-driven nonfiction in the categories of memoir, music, sports, military, self-help, business, and narrative journalism. The New York Times and national bestsellers I’ve acquired and edited include: The Hidden Power of F*cking Up by The Try Guys (a #1 bestseller), Breathe by Jiu-Jitsu legend Rickson Gracie (published in ten countries), The Way Forward by Robert O’Neill and Dakota Meyer, From the Outside by NBA hall-of-famer Ray Allen, What Does This Button Do? by Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson, Fly Into the Wind by Lt Colonel Dan Rooney, The Trump Survival Guide by Gene Stone, Twilight of the Gods by Steven Hyden, and The History of the Future by Blake Harris. Other critically acclaimed titles include Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss, Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris (an Indie Next Pick), America’s Game: The NFL at 100 by NFL legend Jerry Rice, Missed Translations by Sopan Deb, You Ought To Do a Story About Me, and Into the Void by Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler.

In addition to editing, I am a published poet, fiction writer, and journalist with bylines in The New York Times, Newsday, Outside, Fast Company, UPROXX, Amtrak’s The National, Guernica, Tin House, Slice Magazine, The Southampton Review, The Rumpus, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Decider.com, and other outlets. My poetry collection, House of Sound, which Publishers Weekly declared “ruminative…a glimpse into a mind on the search for answers,” was published by Trail to Table Press in October 2020. As a former member of Flashpoint/NYC, a New York City writing collaborative, I have performed my work in more than twenty venues across New York’s five boroughs. I am also the recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize for poetry; my flash fiction piece “On Shaft Mining” was a runner-up for The Blue Earth Review’s 2017 fiction contest, and I earned 2nd place in River Styx’ 2021 micro-fiction contest. My debut novel, The Longitude of Grief, will be published in 2024. I am currently writing my second novel and a collection of short stories. In addition, I have received grants and fellowships from Craigardan (Elizabethtown, NY), NES (Skagaströnd, Iceland) and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (Nebraska City, NE).

My latest professional venture is in ghostwriting and collaboration, in which I bring my expert knowledge of character-driven narratives and life-changing (and affirming) topics to those who wish to—who need to—tell their stories.