Matt Dean began writing in the seventh grade, when his best friend bragged about writing a novel, and he wanted to be able to do the same. (Brag, that is. The writing was somewhat incidental at first.) His earliest efforts consisted of endless lists of characters that somehow never got into action on the page, novels that were barely longer than short stories, and plays that recycled entire plots from Neil Simon. In short, though The River in Winter is not his first novel, it is the first that will ever see the light of day.
Matt attended Heidelberg College—now Heidelberg University—in Tiffin, Ohio, where he majored in music and economics. He has had the honor and privilege of studying the craft of writing in workshops led by David Leavitt, Timothy Schaffert, and Carol Bly.
In addition to writing fiction, Matt routinely populates his blog— entitled “Letters from the Country” in honor of a book of essays by his mentor, Carol Bly—with diatribes and observations concerning food, pop culture, technology, politics, and book design. Ardently but intermittently, he composes both classical and popular music.
Matt lives in South Carolina with his partner, Todd, and their three dogs, Charlotte, Candice, and Tallulah. He works at home, telecommuting full-time for a software company. He is a programmer of a sort; his actual job duties often amount to the digital equivalent of holding an ancient engine together with chewing gum and duct tape.
Todd and Matt are corporate members of the Unitarian Church in Charleston. Matt serves on the board of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry.