John Matthews

John Matthews has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over one hundred books on myth, faery, the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories, a volume of poetry and several successful children’s books. He has devoted much of the past forty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general.

His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/ Athenaeum), No 1 book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year, and ‘The Wildwood Tarot’ (with Mark Ryan). His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people, and the more recent ‘Arthur of Albion’ won a Gold Medal from NAPPA, a gold Moonbeams award and a BIB Golden Apple Award.

John has been involved in a number of media projects, as an advisor and contributor, including the Jerry Bruckheimer movie ‘King Arthur’, and has made appearances on both History Channel and Discovery Channel specials on Arthur and the Holy Grail. He shared a BAFTA award for his work on the Educational DVD made to accompany the King Arthur movie. He recently sold his first movie script and is currently developing several others under the banner of his own company, Mythwood Films, formed with Wil Kinghan in 2009.

He is working on several new projects, including a study of psychic warfare, a Cathar Tarot, and a new study of the Grail myths. He lives in Oxford England with his wife, the writer Caitlin Matthews, and a white cat named Willow.