Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen discusses Bad Monkey before a Barnes & Noble audience at a New York book signing, June 11, 2013
Born (1953-03-12) March 12, 1953
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Occupation Novelist, journalist
Nationality American
Period 1981–present
Genre Crime fiction, thrillers, satirical fiction
Subject Environmentalism, government corruption
Spouse Fenia Clizer (1999–present)
Connie Lyford (1970–1996)
Signature
Website
carlhiaasen.com

Carl Hiaasen (/ˈhaɪ.əsɛn/; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist, columnist, and novelist.

Personal life

Hiaasen was born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida. He was the first of four children born to lawyer Odel and Patricia Hiaasen. He has Norwegian ancestry. He started writing at age six when his father bought him a typewriter.[1] After graduating from Plantation High School in 1970, he entered Emory University, where he contributed satirical humor columns to the student-run newspaper The Emory Wheel.[2] In 1972, he transferred to the University of Florida, where he wrote for The Independent Florida Alligator. Hiaasen graduated in 1974 with a degree in journalism.

He was a reporter at Cocoa Today (Cocoa, Florida) for two years before being hired in 1976 by the Miami Herald, where he worked for the city desk, Sunday magazine and investigative team. Since 1985 Hiaasen has been a regular columnist for the newspaper. His columns have been collected in three volumes, Kick Ass (1999), Paradise Screwed (2001) and Dance of the Reptiles (2014), all edited by Diane Stevenson.

In 2005, Hiaasen was the subject of a "60 Minutes" profile by Steve Kroft.

Novelist

After becoming an investigative reporter, Hiaasen began writing novels in his spare time. His first three were co-authored with fellow journalist William Montalbano: Powder Burn (1981), Trap Line (1982), and A Death in China (1984). His first solo novel, Tourist Season (1986), featured a group of ragged eco-warriors who kidnap the Orange Bowl Queen in Miami. The book's main character was memorialized by Jimmy Buffett in a song called "The Ballad of Skip Wiley." In all, seventeen of Hiaasen's novels and nonfiction books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller lists.

His first venture into writing for children was the 2002 novel Hoot, which was named a Newbery Medal honor book and was adapted as a 2006 film of the same name (starring Logan Lerman, Brie Larson and Luke Wilson). Hiaasen's subsequent children's novels were Flush; Scat; Chomp and, most recently, Skink -- No Surrender, which introduces one of his most popular adult characters to teen readers. All of his young-adult book have environmental themes. They also have eccentric casts and adventure-filed plots..

Hiaasen also co-wrote three rock songs with his good friend, the late Warren Zevon. "Rottweiler Blues" and "Seminole Bingo" appeared on Zevon's Mutineer album in 1995. The third song they wrote together, "Basket Case," was done in conjunction with Hiaasen's novel of the same name, and appeared in 2001 on Zevon's album My Ride's Here.

Hiaasen is also noted as the person who helped bring the young adult fantasy novel Eragon to the public. The book, written by Christopher Paolini, was self-published and self-promoted by tour throughout the United States without much attention until it came to the notice of Hiaasen's wife, Fenia, in 2002. Hiaasen immediately recommended the novel to one of his editors at the publishing house Alfred A. Knopf. The book went on to become an astounding success, marking the start of a series that sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Works

Fiction

Adult fiction

With William Montalbano

Fiction for young readers

Short stories

Non-fiction

Collections

Awards/Achievements

Journalist
Writer

References

  1. ↑ "Biography: Carl Hiaasen". Scholastic. c. 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  2. ↑ Parvin, Paige. "We Knew Them When". Emory Magazine (Emory University) (Winter 2013). Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Biography". Carl Hiaasen's Official Website. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  4. ↑ Carl Hiaasen (2003-02-18). "A crazed photographer has kidnapped a beautiful model and - 02.18.03 - SI Vault". Vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 2012-10-22.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 31, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.