Matthew O'Brien Papers (MS-00849)

Matthew O'Brien is a journalist, author, and college instructor known for his nonfiction book Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas about homeless people living underground in the Las Vegas Valley. O'Brien was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Atlanta, GA. He graduated from the University of West Georgia and earned an MFA from UNLV.

O'Brien was a staff writer, news editor, and managing editor of the alternative weekly Las Vegas CityLife from 2000 to 2008. During his tenure at Las Vegas CityLife he wrote two stories about people living in the storm drains beneath Las Vegas with co-author Joshua Ellis, and then went on to complete a solo-authored book Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas about this topic in 2007. His research and exploration of the underground drains and their residents was widely covered in the national and international press in both print and television. O'Brien also founded the Shine a Light charity to help residents of the tunnels. The charity supplies water, food, clothes, blankets and other items and also provides a variety of services, including housing, drug counseling, medical and mental-health counseling, case management and referrals.

He later wrote a non-fiction compilation of stories entitled My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas about various characters and his experiences in modern-day Las Vegas that was published in 2010. Since 2017, O'Brien splits his time between Las Vegas, Nevada and San Salvador, El Salvador where he teaches world literature at Escuela Americana.

Sources:

"Bio." Beneath the Neon. Accessed June 04, 2018. http://beneaththeneon.com/biography/