Matt Henderson Ellis: Writer, Editor

I grew up in the Midwest of the United States, immersed in John Hughes, J.D Salinger, Stephen King, Midwest punk, and obscure bands from England. I attended a few high schools and a few colleges before getting my degree in Literature from Bennington College in Vermont. After that, I bought a one-way ticket to Prague (then, of Czechoslovakia), where I tended bar at the first Western pub in the city, an experience I would later draw upon for my first novel, Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Cafe. Before going freelance, I worked in many capacities from barista at Starbucks to the editorial department of Doubleday & Co. Relocating to Budapest, Hungary, I co-founded Pilvax, a small but influential literary review that is now archived in the Nobel Library in Sweden. I kick-started my own writing career as a food journalist and continue to write about culture and cuisine for publications like Vice’s food channel Munchies, alongside my career as a conventionally published fiction writer. I reside in Budapest, Hungary.