Name Matt Stewart | ||
Matt Stewart (born April 1, 1979) is an American fiction author whose debut novel, The French Revolution, was the first full-length novel to be published entirely on Twitter. Following the Twitter release, the novel was signed to a publishing deal by Soft Skull Press with a release date of Bastille Day, 2010.
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Early life and education
Matt Stewart was born in Washington, DC, on April 1, 1979, and grew up in Garrett Park, Maryland. In 2001, he received a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.
Career
Following unsuccessful efforts to sell his first novel to traditional publishers, Stewart turned to Twitter as a way to distribute his book to interested readers while generating publicity and media attention. He began tweeting the 480,000 character The French Revolution on Bastille Day 2009 and finished the novel on October 21, 2009. The process, lasting just over four months and approximately 3,700 tweets, attracted 1,000 followers on Twitter. Stewart was called a "pioneer" by CNN.com and received worldwide media coverage for his Twitter experiment.
The French Revolution was released in traditional book form on Bastille Day, July 14, 2010. It received a strong critical reception, and was named a Best Book of 2010 by the San Francisco Chronicle and recognized as a Notable Debut by Poets & Writers.
Stewart is currently working on his second novel, Duct Tape, about a homeless man in search of his imaginary son. He also is a contributor to The Huffington Post, regularly publishes short stories, and speaks at literary and digital publishing events, including Litquake and the San Francisco Writers Conference. Stewart has worked as Head of Marketing for the non-profit organization Alliance for Climate Education and is currently a Director at Antenna Group, a San Francisco cleantech strategic communications firm.