NHBF Author: Matt Forrest Esenwine

As a former radio broadcaster, Matt Forrest Esenwine spent a good part of his life writing and producing commercials, comedy bits, and news stories. He also wrote poetry, which was published in various national journals and anthologies including the Donald Hall tribute Except for Love (Encircle, 2019). Little did Matt know all this short-form writing would lead to his debut picture book, Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017), which received numerous positive reviews including a Kirkus star, was selected as one of New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids 2017, and even showed up on Encyclopedia Brittanica’s list of “11 Children’s Books That Inspire Imagination.”

Matt now has nearly a dozen books to his credit including I Am Today (POW! Kids Books, 2022), recipient of the 2023 NH State Literary Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, and Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021), co-authored with Charles Ghigna (aka, Father Goose®), a book that ALA’s Booklist called “a necessary addition to picture book collections.”

Meanwhile, his children’s poetry can be found in anthologies like The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2015) and Construction People (Wordsong, 2020), as well as his own debut anthology, A Universe of Rainbows (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025), which has gained positive reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. 

Matt lives in New Hampshire with his wife, kids, and more pets than he has fingers, so don’t ask him to count.  

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 3-4, 2025.