Biography

Hello. My name is Paul Mathews. I’m a 51-year-old British writer who gave up his 9-to-5 job in London in the summer of 2015 to write comedy-thriller novels.

After a year of procrastination, good-living, occasional writing, editing and daydreaming, I published my first novel, We Have Lost The President, in July 2016. Since then, I’ve surprised myself and many others – as well as annoyed several people –  by publishing eleven more novels. And there’s more to come.

But we British don’t enjoy blowing own our trumpets too much, so let’s delve deep into my past (well, the bits of it I can remember) and tell you a bit more about me.

Before I gave up my job for a life of writing, I worked as a Government press officer for 16 years – generally avoiding emails, answering phones or any kind of contact whatsoever with journalists. That was so I could concentrate on the creative bits, such as writing news releases and features. When I wasn’t doing that, I was telling jokes, making people laugh and dreaming of a life that didn’t involve 100+ emails a day, photocopiers that kept jamming and phones that didn’t stop ringing.

Prior to that, in the days before the internet and mobile phones – so long ago, Justin Bieber wasn’t even born – I was an accountant. But I don’t like to talk about that (it brings back too many horrible memories of corporation tax calculations and balance sheets). And going back even further, when I had a ponytail and wore flowery shirts, I studied philosophy at Cambridge University after winning a place to study mathematics but deciding I was bored with solving equations by the time I arrived. Instead, I decided to solve the mysteries of life. Three decades later, I’m still searching for answers but hope to have found them by the year 3145 (this does depend on various reincarnations, so don’t hold your breath).

That’s all for now. Happy reading!