Photo by Gilberto Campos

Matthew O’Brien is a writer, editor and teacher/tutor who lived in Las Vegas for twenty years and is currently based in San Salvador, El Salvador. His latest book, Dark Days, Bright Nights: Surviving the Las Vegas Storm Drains, shares the harrowing tales of people who lived in Vegas’ underground flood channels and made it out and turned around their lives. He’s also the author of Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas and My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas. Matt has taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Escuela Americana in San Salvador and is the founder of O’Brien Editing Services and Shine a Light, a nonprofit organization that provides housing, counseling and other services to the people living in the drains.