Matthew Burgess is an Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College. He is the author of six children's books: Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings (Enchanted Lion Books), The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon (Knopf), Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring (ELB), The Bear and The Moon (Chronicle), and most recently, Bird Boy (Knopf) and Make Meatballs Sing: The Life & Art of Corita Kent (ELB). Matthew also has edited an anthology of visual art and writing titled Dream Closet: Meditations on Childhood Space (Secretary Press), as well as a collection of essays titled Spellbound: The Art of Teaching Poetry (TWC). More books are forthcoming, including Sylvester’s Letter (ELB, 2023), The Red Tin Box (Chronicle, 2023) and Words With Wings and Magic Things (Tundra, 2023). A poet-in-residence in New York City public schools since 2001, Matthew also serves as a contributing editor of Teachers & Writers Magazine.