Matt grew up in a small town an hour south of Kansas City, Missouri. After high school, he joined the Marine Corps and served for nearly eight years, completing tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Along with his stint in the military, Matt has amassed a collection of odd jobs over the years. He was a journalist for a couple NPR affiliates; an elected Representative in North Dakota; a brewer; and, for a short time, an influencer on TikTok, where he shared videos about his year spent living in a van. He’s also a huge baseball fan (go Royals), an avid ultrarunner, and a birder with an unimpressive life list.

His work has been published in Ploughshares, Bull, Collateral, and The Wrath-Bearing Tree. He lives in Idaho with his wife and son.

His short story collection, All This and War, is available here.