Spotlight on Local Author Matthew Eck

July 02, 2012

Matthew Eck took an unconventional path to his profession. He always knew he wanted to write. When he graduated from high school in Wichita but couldn’t afford college, he joined the army in hopes of taking advantage of the GI Bill. He spent his four-year tour in Somalia and Haiti. His experiences there gave him the inspiration. The college degrees he earned gave him the tools. He came to Kansas City to realize his dream.

His first novel, The Father Shore, won the Milkweed National Fiction Prize. Matthew was also one of three finalists for the Menn Thorpe Award for local Kansas City authors. Pitch magazine included Eck in their Best of Kansas City series as Best Author for 2008. Here’s what they had to say about The Farther Shore...

"Four U.S. soldiers, in the ruins of what was once a thriving city, miss their rendezvous with the helicopters sent to extract them and set off on foot in varying states of health as the monsoon season approaches. Taut as piano wire, Eck's prose illuminates scenes with quick, terse glances… Notable as one of the few war novels produced by a generation raised on Nintendo, it's hard to put down, and it cuts like an infantryman’s knife."

Matthew lives in Kansas City with his wife and two children. He’s a popular Creative Writing professor at the University of Central Missouri.

Laura M.
Kearney Branch