Matthew Specktor is the author of five books, including the memoirs The Golden Hour and Always Crashing in the Same Car, and the novels American Dream Machine and That Summertime Sound. His books have been chosen best of the year by The Atlantic and The Washington Post, and longlisted for the Folio Prize. His stories, essays and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Vogue, GQ, Tin House, and numerous other periodicals and anthologies. He has been a MacDowell Colony Fellow, and is a founding editor of The Los Angeles Review of Books.

A one-time studio executive and longtime screenwriter, Matthew's screenplays have been optioned by Warner Brothers, Showtime, F/X Networks, and elsewhere. His newest book, The Golden Hour, is a hybrid memoir that braids personal narrative, family history, and cultural history into a sweeping history of the modern motion picture industry.