In the six months that followed his leaving teaching and the Philadelphia area, Matthew floated down the Peruvian Amazon and formed ‘The Bardbarians’ (a two-man literary circle), backpacked around Southern Africa, hiked to the bottom of a snowy Grand Canyon, soul-searched, and finally began writing full-time.

Matthew earned his Creative Writing M.F.A. through Goddard College. He has since returned to the Philadelphia area, where he lives with his wife and greyhound.