About

Matthew has lives in Alaska and has done so since 1980. He grew up in the Interior of Alaska in a small bush community where he experienced the quintessential Alaskan life. His family heated their home with firewood, electricity was provided by a family generator and the only “running” water they had was when his dad would tell one of his four boys to run to the spring to get some.

Matthew ran a trap line, had sled dogs, drove snow machines (snowmobiles for your lower 48ers) and learned the love of books as they were his window into the vast world outside of his hometown.

His family mined for gold both in the Interior of Alaska as well as the Klondike. His dad was the first to officially records diamond finds in Alaska.

In 1991 his family moved to Anchorage, Alaska where Matthew continues to live. He has spent the last 20+ years working with children and is currently a first grade teacher in the Anchorage School District.

In 2016, he met and married his beautiful wife Jena (Benton) Lasley. She has helped him pursue his dreams of writing a book. In February of 2019, his dream came true and his first book, Pedro’s Pan, was published by West Margin Press.