Randy Wayne White

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Randy Wayne White (b. 1950) is an American writer of crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales. He has written best-selling novels and has received awards for his fiction and a television documentary. He is best known for his series of crime novels featuring the retired CIA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida. White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States. A resident of Southwest Florida since 1972, he currently lives on Pine Island, Florida, where he is active in South Florida civic affairs and with the restaurant Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill on nearby Sanibel Island.

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[edit] Biography

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White was born in Ashland, Ohio, and spent his early life on a small farm outside Pioneer, Ohio. His summers were spent in Rockingham, North Carolina, his mother's hometown. In the 1960s his family moved to Davenport, Iowa, where White attended Davenport Central High School and competed in baseball, football, and springboard diving. After graduating in 1968 he spent time in travel before settling in Southwest Florida in 1972. He worked for the Fort Myers News-Press for four years during which time he obtained a captain's license. He then bought a used charter boat and operated as a light-tackle fishing guide at the Tarpon Bay Marina on Sanibel Island for thirteen years.

[edit] Literary career

White began writing novels while working as a fishing guide. His first seven novels were written under the pen name Randy Striker. After the federal government closed Tarpon Bay to powerboat traffic he became a full-time adventurer and writer.

White has traveled extensively and participated in a wide variety of adventures, including dog sledding in Alaska, helping to re-establish Little League baseball in Cuba, and ferrying Cuban refugees to safety during the Mariel boatlift.

St. Martin's Press published his first Doc Ford novel, Sanibel Flats in 1990 with a three-book contract and option for the fourth. Disatisfied with the money paid for and the scant promotion of his first three books, White signed with G.P. Putnam's Sons for the fourth under much more favorable terms and has been with that publisher since.

[edit] Fiction by "Randy Striker"

  • Key West Connection (1981, New American Library; reprinted in 2006, Signet, ISBN 0451218019)

[edit] Doc Ford novels

[edit] Non-fiction

  • Batfishing in the Rainforest (1991, Lyons & Burford)
  • The Sharks of Lake Nicaragua: True tales of adventure, travel, and fishing (1999, Lyon's Press, ISBN 1558219048)
  • Last Flight Out: True tales of adventure, travel, and fishing (2002, Lyons Press, ISBN 1585743836)
  • "Dr. Pepper" in Outside 25: Classic tales and new voices from the frontiers of adventure, edited by Hal Espen (2002, W.W. Norton, ISBN 0393051862)
  • An American Traveler (2003, Lyons Press, ISBN 1592280331)
  • A Fishing Guide's Guide to Tropical Cooking (2006, Algonquin Press)

[edit] Contributions to periodicals

  • Contributing editor and columnist for Men's Journal
  • Contributing editor and columnist for Men's Health
  • Contributor to National Geographic Adventure
  • An editor-at-large of Outside

[edit] Television

  • Gift of the Game (2003, Uncommon Productions, produced by Bill Haney and John MacNeil, directed by Bill Haney, written by Bill Haney and Randy Wayne White)

[edit] Awards and honors

  • "Best of Show" at the Woods Hole Film Festival for the documentary Gift of the Game.
  • Sanibel Flats on the list "Hundred Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century" by the American Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
  • Conch Republic Prize for Literature
  • John D. MacDonald Award for Literary Excellence

[edit] Civic participation

  • Member of the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission (four years)
  • Member of the Florida Bar Association Grievance Committee (four years)
  • Co-founder of Big Brothers in South Florida

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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