Matt Richtel

Matt Richtel is a novelist, cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times based in the San Francisco. He writes about technology, its impact on society, and how it changes the way we how we work, play, and relate to each other. His 2010 series, ‘Our Brain On Computers‘ focuses on how constant use of our devices impacts not only our behavior but our thought processes and even our neurology. His 2009 series about the dangers of multitasking while driving won the Pulitzer for national reporting.

Matt’s first novel, Hooked, was a national bestseller. The sequel, Devil’s Plaything, is scheduled for publication in May, 2011 from Harper Collins, with a third slated for publication in 2012.

Matt joined the Times in 2000 and has written on range of topics, including Internet gambling, identity theft, corporate espionage, video games, mobile communications, the dot com boom and bust, and the pornography industry. He was a Loeb award finalist for his work on the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal and the winner of best project from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for his work on distracted driving.

In his spare time, Matt writes the syndicated daily comic strip “Rudy Park.” The strip, launched in 2001, revolves around the lives of regular patrons at an Internet cafe. Matt writes the strip under the pen name “Theron Heir.” The comic is illustrated by Darrin Bell and is the subject of two book compilations, “Rudy Park: The People Must be Wired,” and “Rudy Park: Peace, Love and Lattes.”

Matt lives in San Francisco with his wife, Meredith, their son, Milo, and daughter, Mirabel. He’s an avid tennis player and recreational athlete; a prideful maker of guacamole for parties; and periodic (and not good) songwriter. Matt grew up in Boulder, Colorado, the son of two avid readers, attended Boulder High School, and obtained a bachelors degree in rhetoric from University of California at Berkeley and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.