Artist, Author, and Visual Designer

Jerome Matiyas is a graphic/visual designer, artist, and writer. Born and raised in the festive Caribbean twin-island Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, Jerome has been residing in the DMV area (DC, Maryland, and Virginia tri-states), USA since 1998. From a very young age, he has had a love and passion for art, history, film, music, and cultures.

Jerome has a special interest in Biblical studies in scripture and archeology, lost books of the Bible and other ancient Hebrew writings, and Ethiopian & Eritrean culture, history, art, and people. He also loves sci-fi and fantasy movies, books, American and Japanese animation (anime), comic books and graphic novels. He enjoys trying to decipher how the stories relate to the real world of the past, present, and future. All of these interests combined in the making of The Epic Adventures of Mekonnen (Mekonnen Epic).

The Mekonnen Epic stories and illustrations are set in an alternate historical Earth in the 6th century AD, as a young warrior name Mekonnen from the great Empire of Aksum in the highlands of Ethiopia & Eritrea finds himself in a grand cosmic battle between good and evil, Light and Darkness.

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After more than 25 years since its inception, research and development, the first part of the adventure, MEKONNEN: The Warrior of Light, part 1, was finally published through Amazon KDP on April 27, 2019. It is now available for purchase in paperback hard copy and Kindle ebook on Amazon.com, and selected bookstores like Sankofa Bookstore in Washington DC. 

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In the summer of 2020, he released 4 sets of jigsaw puzzles featuring artwork from the illustrated novel.

In December 2020 he released the first comic book titled MEKONNEN EPIC: MESQALON #1 based on the first half of the prologue of the novel.

In January 2021 he was interviewed on WALTA TV while on vacation in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. 

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Get your copy today and continue to follow Mekonnen Epic for updates on future books and art releases at www.MekonnenEpic.com, Facebook, and Instagram.