Below the Radar
"The best stories come from everyday life, and I intend to tell those stories"Prodigious and profound authorFrank C. Matthews' triumphant transformation from inmate to novelist has established him as a leading force in the world of urban literature. His unprecedented journey demonstrates that even when confronted with a web of trials and tribulations, creativity has the ability to flourish. A New York City native, Matthews grew up with aspirations of one day becoming a household name as an NBA Superstar. His dream took a detour, but his resilience and determination allowed him to persevere.The lure of the streets and its fast money took Matthews away from hoops and into another game - the drug trade - where he found instant success. But a deal gone bad eventually landed him behind bars. Once incarcerated, Matthews had few options of how to spend his seemingly unending time in what felt like a black hole drawing at all happiness. Taking advantage of the still and silent nights, Matthew's spent hours plunged into two of the world's most renowned, contemporary African-American story-tellers, Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines.The books empowered the now bright-eyed and enthusiastic Matthews and awakened a creative bug to tell the stories locked inside him. "Incarceration transformed me," said Frank. "I went from a young, frustrated, and confused boy to a mature, humble, and pensive man." Much the way Malcolm X used the power of words to transform himself in prison, Frank C. Matthews used the power of the pen to write his way to freedom, real freedom. He found his purpose. He would write his stories in notebooks, on torn-open envelopes, and anything he could get his hands on and would pass them around through the system. While some traded cigarettes, Frank Matthews traded his highly demanded stories, which inmates clung to like emotional life rafts.Matthews delved into the business of publishing, an industry he now planned to one day master.