Matthew Burgess

Agent: Erica Rand Silverman

Matthew Burgess is the author of Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings (Enchanted Lion), which was named one of the best children’s books of 2015 by the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Huffington Post, and Brain Pickings.

Several new titles are forthcoming, including the Unbudgeable Curmudgeon (illustrated by Fiona Woodcock, Knopf), Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring (illustrated by Josh Cochran, Enchanted Lion), and The Bear and the Moon (illustrated by Catia Chen, Chronicle).

Matthew is an Assistant Professor of English at Brooklyn College, where he recently received the Award for Excellence in Teaching. He edited an anthology of contemporary poetry, memoir, and visual art titled Dream Closet: Meditations on Childhood Space (Secretary Press, 2016), which followed the completion of his doctoral dissertation on the same theme: the small worlds that kids create for refuge and for dreaming.

Since 2001, Matthew has been leading poetry workshops in New York City elementary schools with Teachers & Writers Collaborative. A thank you card from Arielle, a 2nd grader at PS 51 in Manhattan, reads: “I love it when I learn how to do poetry. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t even THINK poetry was fun. Poetry is so fun that I’m not ready for you to leave. You helped us get our poetry skills upgraded.”

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