Mat Johnson

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Mat Johnson (born in Philadelphia August 19, 1970) is the author of Drop and Hunting in Harlem. He was raised in Germantown and Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mat is thought by many of his fellow writers and fan base to be a fresh voice within the African-American literary tradition. Like many black American writers before him, notably Claude McKay, Mat developed his writing skills while living in Harlem, New York and like McKay his work has been both trans-atlantic and focused on the textures of color and class within the black community. Johnson is known also for his brilliant wit and the jazzy speech of his characters.

From his Bloomsbury biography:

"A consistently poor student, Mat easily maintained a D average by spending class time reading novels in his lap, pretending to be asleep. After barely getting in to a local state college, Mat finally applied himself, resulting in acceptance to a year-long foreign exchange program as a sophomore to the University of Wales at Swansea, his first time away from Philly, and an experience that would change his life. Transferring his junior year to the Quaker Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Mat's work as the black student union president won him the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for future leaders. For his fellowship topic Mat researched the effects of international experiences on African Americans. Using London as his base, Mat traveled through Europe and West Africa interviewing black expatriates."

Hunting in Harlem, Johnson's second novel, is the 2004 winner of the highly prestegious Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. In 2007, Johnson published The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York, a historical fiction novel about the New York Slave Insurrection of 1741.

Mat Johnson currently teaches African American literature and creative writing at Bard College.