BIO

Matt Pasca is a poet, teacher, editor and traveler who believes in art’s ability to foster discovery, empathy and justice.

His first book-length collection, A Thousand Doors (2011, JB Stillwater), was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and his second, Raven Wire (2016, Shanti Arts), was selected as a Finalist for the 2017 Eric Hoffer Book Award. Named the 2022 Long Island Poet of the Year by the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, Matt serves as Assistant Poetry Editor for 2 Bridges Review and curates Second Saturdays @Cyrus, a vibrant poetry series in his hometown of Bay Shore.

A 2003 New York State Teacher of Excellence, Matt has taught Poetry, Mythology and Literature at Bay Shore High School for the past 24 years, where he also advises the award-winning literary-art magazine, The Writers’ Block, and curates a visiting writers program that has featured poets Naomi Shihab Nye, Joshua Bennett, Denice Frohman, Kyle Dargan, Regie Cabico, Jeanann Verlee and Veronica Golos.

At 11, Pasca began using the written word to deconstruct and reconcile the many worlds between which he existed—the global-mindedness and Iranian buffets of his Baha’i upbringing, the dysfunction and terminal illness of his home life, and the suburban homogeneity of his public school experience. Matt went on to earn a B.A. in English from Cornell University in 1995, where he minored in Africana Studies, learned Russian, worked the projection booth at Cornell Cinema and sang in the campus gospel choir, Pamoja-Ni. He earned a Master’s degree in Secondary English Education from Stony Brook University in 1998.

Matt has been a featured poet/performer at SOMOS in Taos, New Mexico, Shakespeare & Co. in Missoula, Montana, off-site at AWP in Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Orchard House School in Richmond, Virginia, La-Ti-Do in Washington, DC, the Milford Readers & Writers Festival in Milford, Pennsylvania, the Paterson Poetry Center in New Jersey, the Bryant Park Reading Room, Cornelia Street Cafe, Parkside Lounge and Pacific Standard in NYC, and Hofstra University, CW Post, Stony Brook University, Molloy College, Nassau Community College and The Walt Whitman Birthplace on Long Island. He has also been a keynote speaker and workshop presenter for both the Long Island Language Arts Council and Nassau Reading Council.

Matt lives just miles from the Atlantic Ocean with his brilliant and beautiful wife, author Terri Muuss, with whom he frequently performs and/or facilitates writing workshops. Together, they are passionate about learning, listening, advocating, sharing, creating community and practicing global citizenship with their two precocious redheads, Rainer and Atticus.