Matt Mason (poet)
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Matt Mason (born 1968) is an American poet based in Omaha, Nebraska. From 2019 to 2024, he served as Nebraska State Poet, serving until the end of 2024. He has published five full-length works of poetry as well as eight chapbooks and two poetry anthologies. Mason has written about fatherhood, Disneyland, Eighties Rock, relationships, religion and the Bible, and themes of Midwest and Great Plains life. Mason's early work gave him a reputation as a humorous poet, but he has written comedy, drama, and tragedy.[1]
Mason's first book Things We Don't Know We Don't Know was published in 2006 by the Backwaters Press (an imprint of University of Nebraska Press) and won the 2007 Nebraska Book Award for both Poetry and Cover Design. The anthology Slamma Lamma Ding Dong (2005), which Mason co-edited, was made available through iuniverse and won the 2006 Nebraska Book Award for Best Anthology. Six of his eight chapbooks have been published through his own small press, Morpo Press. [2]
Mason currently works as a poet and speaker, traveling to schools, libraries and more for readings, talks, corporate trainings and writing workshops. He served as Executive Director of the Nebraska Writers Collective from 2009-2022 where he was festival coordinator for the Louder Than a Bomb: Great Plains Youth Poetry Festival. He served as past board president for the Nebraska Center for the Book, and was a consultant for the Nebraska Arts Council for Nebraska’s Poetry Out Loud program (an NEA/Poetry Foundation program) until 2016. He has served on the board of directors for the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association, the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards, Friends of the Omaha Public Library, and the Medusa Project. [citation needed] In October, 2015, Mason served as a representative for the U.S. State Department in Romania teaching Poetry slam to high schools students in various cities.[3] Mason has also been in charge of State Department programs in Belarus (2008), Nepal (2010), and Botswana (2014).
Mason is married to the poet Sarah McKinstry-Brown (Sarah Mason). They have two daughters.
