As a former radio broadcaster, I spent a good part of my life writing and producing commercials, comedy bits, and news stories. At various times I was also an event DJ, country dance instructor, news reporter, cook, telemarketer, ice cream scooper, and photography sales dude…and never figured out how to make a living doing any of it.
I also loved poetry - my first published poem was in 1984 when I was still in high school - and over the years I've had numerous adult-oriented poems published in various journals and anthologies including the Donald Hall tribute, "Except for Love (Encircle, 2019). In 2012 my poem, "Apple-Stealing" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and in 2019 I was the recipient of the MacGregor Poetry Prize, coordinated by the Robert Frost Farm board of trustees and Derry (NH) Public Library.
Anyhoo...little did I know all this short-form writing would lead to my debut picture book, "Flashlight Night" (Boyds Mills & Kane, 2017), which received numerous positive reviews including a Kirkus star and was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Kids 2017. I now have more than a dozen books out or under contract, including "Once Upon Another Time" (Beaming Books, 2021), co-authored with my friend, Charles Ghigna (aka, Father Goose®).
Meanwhile, my children’s poetry can be found in anthologies like "The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry" (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2015), "Night Wishes" (Eerdmans, 2020), and "Construction People" (Wordsong, 2020), the latter of which was chosen by Kirkus as one of the Best Picture Books of the Year. Take a gander at all my books here.
Matt lives in New Hampshire with his wife, kids, and more pets than he has fingers, so don’t ask him to count.
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