Matt Pasca

Matt Pasca has been using the written word to defamiliarize, deconstruct, and reconstruct the world around him since he was eleven. After giving up on his dreams of becoming a professional disc jockey and playing major league baseball, Matt earned a B.A. in English at Cornell University, where he minored in Africana Studies, learned Russian, worked the projection booth at Cornell Cinema and sang in Pamoja-Ni, the campus gospel choir. He went on to earn a master’s degree in Secondary English Education from Stony Brook University and began teaching at Bay Shore High School in 1997.

Matt’s poetry has received two Pushcart Prize nominations and been published in over 25 journals and 10 anthologies. His two full-length poetry collections, A THOUSAND DOORS (2011, JB Stillwater) and RAVEN WIRE (2016, Shanti Arts, 2017 ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD FINALIST), have been lauded in both academic and non-academic circles. Matt has been a featured poet/performer at SOMOS in Taos, NM, Shakespeare & Co. in Missoula, MT, off-site at AWP in Minneapolis, MN, The Orchard House School in Richmond, VA, the Parkside Lounge, Cornelia Street Cafe and Makor in NYC, and Hofstra University, CW Post, Stony Brook University, Molloy College, Nassau Community College and The Walt Whitman Birthplace on Long Island.

A 2003 New York State Teacher of Excellence, Matt has taught a wide variety of courses, including AP Language, AP Literature, IB English, Mythology, Poetry and Creative Non-Fiction. He co-founded his school’s Creative Writing Club in 1998 and became the adviser of its Poetry Jams, Visiting Writers’ Series and oft decorated literary-art magazine, THE WRITERS’ BLOCK. Matt serves as an Associate Poetry Editor for 2 BRIDGES REVIEW and frequently keynotes or conducts workshops at professional conferences for secondary English teachers, students, continuing education programs or writers’ organizations.

Matt lives just miles from the ocean with his wife, author/director/motivational speaker Terri Muuss, with whom he hosts a vibrant monthly poetry series at Cyrus Chai & Coffee in Bay Shore. He enjoys spending his days learning, sharing, giving back, creating community and traveling the world with Terri and their two precocious redheaded sons, THE ELLEN SHOW presidential experts from 2012-2013, Rainer and Atticus. www.mattpasca.com @Matt_Pasca