Matt Alton

Matt Alton is a writer and performer based in Manchester, whose work explores the welfare system, chronic illness and the visibility of such conditions.

An upcoming performance commissioned by The Lowry's scratch nights will be performed remotely on 18th June. The Disabled Son asks: What if the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke were disabled? What if, returning to his father to ask for support, instead of being welcomed with grace, he was forced to complete humiliating tasks to prove his worth? Combining storytelling with shadow puppetry, the performance explores the paternalism experienced by disabled people in Britain.

His prose blends stories from his life with retellings of fairytales and religious stories, asking how things could be otherwise. The Blue Shoes, published by Disabled Tales, worked through how to use the fairytale form to tell a disabled story without relying on ableist tropes.

His poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies including Under the Radar and Broken Sleep's Masculinity: an anthology of modern voices. A film-poem, made with artist Chris Alton, jointly won the Exeter Contemporary Award.