A native of Atlanta, Matthew Guinn earned a BA in English from the University of Georgia. He continued graduate school at the University of Mississippi, where he met his wife Kristen and completed a master's degree. At the University of South Carolina, where he earned a Ph.D. in English, he was personal assistant to the late James Dickey. In addition to the Universities of Mississippi and South Carolina, he has taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and at Tulane University's School of Continuing Studies in Madison, Mississippi.
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Matthew is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS.

Matthew and Kristen live in Jackson with their two children, Braiden and Phoebe.