About Steve Matthews
Steve was born in England in 1953. His father was from a British Military background, and his mother was French. After living in the UK and Africa, the Matthews family eventually settled in Swindon, Wiltshire in the UK when Steve was aged 6 years.
Steve built a successful career in the financial world, working for the Barclays Bank Group and the Merchant Bank, Charterhouse before migrating to Australia, in 1985 where he re-joined Barclays Bank in Sydney.
View Steve's Books Here
Several Years Later...
Steve purchased a share in an industrial business in Western Sydney; a very different scenario from the corporate world of high finance and commercial banking. The business flourished, with the two working partners quickly establishing the perfect formula to become industry leaders.
It was during the time when Steve returned to the UK to visit his terminally ill father that he wrote several stories for his children to enjoy in his absence. Those stories were eventually turned into books and successfully published in Australia and the USA - Steve's first venture into the literary world.
Under Steve's stewardship, the company expanded rapidly when his partner retired, and at the age of 55 Steve decided to sell his interests, retire from the corporate world and start a new career as a writer, working full time from the farm he and his wife Diane purchased, 80km's outside Sydney.
It was then that Steve suffered a major health setback, resulting in emergency surgery. Unfortunately the operation was not successful and Steve endured several more surgeries for a debilitating spinal problem. It was not until he reached the age of 61, with the prospect of even more surgery, that Steve was persuaded by his wife and GP to finally commence his writing career. Since then, his popular children's books have been published in Australia, the UK, USA and Canada, and his work in Children's Literacy at home and abroad (India and South Africa) has been acknowledged in the Australian State Parliament.
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Involvement
Over a period of more than 25 years, Steve has been involved with the Homicide Victim's Support Group. A victim of Domestic Abuse, very close to home, shared her diaries with Steve who was hugely affected by her story. With Diane's additional research and prompting, Steve wrote The Skinny Girl; his first adult novel.
When asked why he chose to write about women's issues, Steve said "we are living in a time when women are starting to assert themselves and take their rightful place in all aspects of society. I think this is the perfect time to add to the conversation."
