Matthew Mercier

Matthew Mercier is a writer and storyteller living in the Hudson Valley, the literary home of Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane & The Headless Horseman.

Before building a home with his wife in a lovely swath of fairy tale forest, he worked as a tour guide at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, ran a youth hostel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was slimed as a salmon packer in Naknek, Alaska, provided showers for homeless men on the Bowery, and proudly served three years as head docent and caretaker for the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage in The Bronx, an experience that became the basis for his debut novel Poe & I, published by Crystal Lake Publishing on July 19th, 2024.

He now spends his days writing, cooking, playing with his cats Ursula and Bombadil, and hunting for mushrooms after a good rainstorm. He is a mycological evangelical, since fungi are the future and are of great benefit to humanity and ecosystems. And yes, he knows the poisonous ones that will kill you.

On a more pragmatic note, he earned an MFA from Hunter College where he taught writing and children’s literature. His work has appeared in various magazines such as Creative Nonfiction, The Fairy Tale Review, Shotgun Honey, and Mystery Tribune.

He’s also performed stories live on stage with The Moth, and he’s been heard on NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour, as well The Story Collider, RISK and The Truth podcasts. He’s also been awarded the Leon B. Burstein scholarship from the New York chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and a residency from the Saltonstall Foundation.

Currently, he is writing and producing radio dramas for Radio Free Rhinecliff in Rhinecliff, NY. The first six-part drama is called Poe's Basement, which tells the story of a long forgotten crime that he could not fit into his novel Poe & I.