matt.jpg

Matt Silady

After growing up in the Chicagoland area, Matt Silady taught eighth grade for six years in Champaign, Illinois before moving west to study creative writing at the University of California, Davis. It was there he discovered comics as a medium for fine art.

In 2007, he published his first graphic novel, The Homeless Channel. The story about a television executive attempting to start a 24-hour cable network for the homeless was nominated for an Eisner award.

Since then, Matt accepted a teaching position at California College of the Arts where he helped expand the undergraduate comics curriculum and founded CCA's MFA in Comics program in 2013. After chairing the graduate program from 2013-2022, Matt founded and Chaired CCA’s BFA in Comics program. He now serves as the college's Assistant Provost of Faculty and Academic Development

Professional projects include serving as Guest Editor of the SF Weekly Comics Issue and the launch of the inaugural San Francisco Comics Festival. His comics and writing have appeared in publications such as Barron's Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel, Sonoma Magazine, PMLA, and Keywords for Comics Studies published by NYU Press. In 2016, Matt collaborated with the open education platform, Kadenze, to bring a free, online comics course to over 10,000 students from 81 different countries around the world.