Matthew Eck will join the faculty of the NEA’s Operation Homecoming 

Matthew Eck, author of the debut novel The Farther Shore, about a group of soldiers separated from their command in an unnamed country, has joined the faculty for Operation Homecoming, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in which active-duty troops and veterans reflect on their experiences through four-to-six-week writing workshops at twenty-five sites around the country. Since 2004, Operation Homecoming has brought fifty-nine writing workshops to troops at twenty-seven domestic and overseas military installations.

"Being a part Operation Homecoming is a huge honor to me," Eck said.  "As a veteran and a writer I'm honored to be a part of such a powerful project.  I often feel like I'm saving my life with every word I write, and I don't mind sharing that experience with others.  I'm excited to talk about hope and goodness with them.  But more than anything, I want to hear what they have to say.  I hope  that I can help them in some way.  Because they deserve it."

Stephen Elliott, a blogger for the Huffington Post, describes The Farther Shore as “A stripped down novel that gets at modern war with the precision of a missileFarther Shore as “A stripped down novel that gets at modern war with the precision of a missile guided from a rooftop.” The Farther Shore was only the second book from an independent publisher to be selected as a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award (it won second place). The book also recently won the Society for Midland Authors award for best work of fiction.