Meet Matt Purple, AF’s New Writing Fellows Training Coordinator

America’s Future Foundation is excited to welcome our new Writing Fellows Training Coordinator, Matt Purple! In addition to working with AF, Matt is the managing editor at The American Conservative. His writing has appeared in National Review, The American Spectator, Reason, The National Interest, and elsewhere. A graduate of The Catholic University of America, he lives in Alexandria.

Get to know more about Matt!

What do you enjoy about your career path so far and why?
I think what I like most is that it’s allowed me to try my hand at several different things. I worked at a PR company, did a couple gigs in radio, and was a spot reporter before I finally landed in political opinion writing. It’s good to take a few detours in your career. You pick up skills that you wouldn’t otherwise have learned.

Why did you decide to work with America’s Future Foundation?
Well I like writing and I like teaching and I like conservative politics, so it seemed like a natural fit. I’m especially looking forward to working with other writers. Writing is an undervalued skill these days and the more of us the better.

What helpful skills do you hold that people could ask you for advice about?
I don’t want to give a cheesy answer like “cooking!” or “I once biked across Europe with no hands!” So I’ll just say that I think the most important quality for a writer is curiosity. If you’re genuinely interested in the world around you, if you’re willing to go out into it and learn and listen, you’ll never lack for something to write about.

Book recommendations?
This is going to sound strange for a political writer, but anything fiction, especially Dickens, Graham Greene, Tom Wolfe, Evelyn Waugh, Ian McEwan, Kingsley Amis, Shirley Jackson, and Stephen King. Also pretty much any book about history I’ll lose myself in.

What’s your go-to coffee order?
Anything black. Unless it’s summertime and I’m at Dunkin Donuts, in which case I like that massive iced coffee in the plastic cup with the full cream and sugar and maybe just a little joe.

Favorite place to travel to?
Either New England or the Outer Banks. If there’s a beach, I’m happy.