Matthew J. Parker was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and moved to Arizona when he was 22. Along the way, he's worked delivering liquor, in industrial laundry, as a day laborer, a landscaper, a carpenter, in drywall, as a roofer, in maintenance, as a breakfast cook, a commercial electrician, a tile setter, a painter, in tool and die, as a tech at a TV station, as a law school proctor, an alcohol proctor, a creative writing teacher, a caterer, and a research assistant.

In prison He's worked in landscaping, in print shops, as a foreman in prison construction, as an auto mechanic, in concrete, as a teacher, a librarian, a trash picker (along interstates I-40 and I-10 in Arizona), a cook, for habitat for humanities, and on a large, indoor hydroponic tomato farm.

After his final release from prison in March of 2002, Parker earned a BA in English Literature, and an MFA from Columbia. He currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Larceny in My Blood: A Memoir of Heroin, Handcuffs, and Higher Education

Matthew Parker was in his mid-forties when he started college. He’d been sidetracked: Eleven years were eaten up by serving time in various county jails, state penitentiaries, and federal prison. He’d been arrested more than thirty times, racking up eight felonies in a crime career that began at age thirteen, when he started dealing pot. When he got out of prison for the last time and kicked his heroin addiction, he was determined to spend the next chapter of his life in the classroom. And he did just that, going on to complete a master’s degree from Columbia University’s highly competitive creative writing program.

Through captivating black-and-white illustrations drawn in a distinctively primitive style, Larceny in My Blood flashes back on Parker's childhood, with memories of a loving but lawless mother teaching him that breaking the law was the way to survive. From there it moves to an account of Parker’s lost decades, where he resorted to petty crime to support a heroin habit. After years of fighting the system, Parker sees the light and Larceny in My Blood becomes a poignant portrait of a man trying to find his way in the straight and narrow. A unique memoir, Parker’s images and words form a mesmerizing road to redemption.