David-Matthew Barnes

David-Matthew Barnes is an award-winning author, playwright, poet, and screenwriter. He writes in multiple genres, primarily young adult, romance, thriller, and horror. He is the bestselling author of twelve novels, five produced screenplays, three collections of poetry, seven short stories, and more than sixty stage plays. In addition to his career as a writer, David-Matthew has earned more than two decades of professional experience in marketing and communications, primarily as a director and as a senior-level copywriter. He has created original and impactful marketing materials for many high-profile clients including Jaguar, Land Rover, Motorola, and Porsche. Currently, he is the Director of Marketing and Communications at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado, where he was honoured with a Diversity and Inclusion Service Award.Born in Torrance, California, David-Matthew is the eldest son of Sam Barnes, Jr., a former police officer originally from Jonesboro, Louisiana, and Nancy Nickle, the former owner of a hip-hop record label originally from Los Angeles. He has four younger brothers. He is the eldest grandson of the late Clifford Nickle, who was a prominent business owner in the Redondo Beach area of California. David-Matthew has a considerable family history in Canada, as his relatives are the founders of the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary. Entertainers have been prominent in David-Matthew's family for many generations. His great-aunt was actress Ann Paige, who appeared in the films China Doll and The Young Lions with co-stars Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, Dean Martin, and Hope Lange. David-Matthew fell in love with writing at the early age of 7, when his second-grade teacher recognized his storytelling talents after he wrote a Halloween-themed story titled The Blue Witch. Thanks to his sixth-grade drama teacher, who saw playwriting potential in him, Barnes' first play was produced when he was only 11. The script was a tribute to soap operas titled Life Isn't Easy. By the age of 13, David-Matthew was writing plays and short stories on a second-hand typewriter. David-Matthew credits meeting young adult author Norma Fox Mazer (who was a visiting author at his junior high school) as the defining moment when he knew he would become a writer.As a teenager, David-Matthew lived primarily in Northern California, where he attended the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VAPAC) at Sacramento High School and later Berkeley High School, where classmates included actress and model Rebecca Romijn and music video director Dave Meyers. In high school, David-Matthew found a love for cheerleading, which would become a part of his life for over a decade.At the age of 15, David-Matthew became a regular on the television series Dance Floor '86, which he appeared on for one year. That same year he published his first short story, a dramatic tale of five teenagers surviving the aftermath of a nuclear war titled The Children Are Crying, featured in the anthology Across the Generations. He has been a professional writer since. David-Matthew wrote and directed the coming-of-age indie film Frozen Stars (starring Lana Parrilla of ABC's Once Upon a Time), which received worldwide distribution and is available via Netflix DVD. The film was recognized for featuring a predominantly Latino cast. As a result, the film was the subject of international press coverage and received a world premiere screening at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.David-Matthew then directed an independent documentary called Why So Fly? which offered a backstage look at the all-female hip-hop trio Northern State. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.