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Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his incredibly tolerant family and numerous personal demons.

A graduate of the University of Florida, at age 23 he joined The Miami Herald as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the paper's weekly magazine and later its prize-winning investigations team. Since 1985 Hiaasen has been writing a regular column, which at one time or another has pissed off just about everybody in South Florida, including his own bosses.

He has outlasted almost all of them, and his column still appears on most Sundays in The Herald's opinion-and-editorial section. It may be viewed online at www.miamiherald.com or in the actual printed edition of the newspaper, which, miraculously, is still being published.

For his journalism and commentary, Hiaasen has received numerous state and national honors, including the Damon Runyon Award from the Denver Press Club. His work has also appeared in many well-known magazines, including Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Time, Life, Esquire and, most improbably, Gourmet.

In the early 1980s, Hiaasen began writing novels with his good friend and distinguished journalist, the late William D. Montalbano. Together they produced three mystery thrillers -- Powder Burn, Trap Line and Double Whammy -- which borrowed heavily from their own reporting experiences.

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Read David Pogue's rave review of SCAT in The New York Times.

The Downhill Lie was featured in The New York Times May 6.

Stephen Colbert spoke with Carl about The Downhill Lie on May 5. Watch the video.

Colbert interviewed Carl Jan. 30 about what's wrong with Florida. Watch the video.

A Downhill Lie excerpt was published in the May 12 edition of Sports Illustrated.

Three middle schoolers take on greedy land developers, corrupt politicians, and clueless cops in this mystery adventure based on Carl Hiaasen’s Newbery Honor-winning book.

www.hootmovie.com

Resources
  Random House
  The Lavin Agency

Miami Herald
Carl Hiaasen’s column appears regularly in The Miami Herald
Recent Columns
New editions of Kick Ass and Paradise Screwed can now be pre-ordered. They'll be released in September.
The Downhill Lie in paperback
The paperback edition of The Downhill Lie was released May 5.

Buy it now.
Buy Carl's new children's book, SCAT.
Mrs. Starch – fearsome biology teacher – never returned from a field trip to Black Vine Swamp...

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Carl takes on golf
in The Downhill Lie
Ever wonder how to retrieve a sunken golf cart from a snake-infested lake? Or which club in your bag is best suited for combat against a horde of rats? ...

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"Flush" Is Out in Paperback
You know it's going to be a rough summer when you spend Father's Day visiting your dad in the local lockup. Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor...

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"Nature Girl" Is Now Out in Paperback
Q: Where did the idea for NATURE GIRL come from?

“I'd always fantasized about tracking down one of these telemarketing...”

Read more "Nature Girl" FAQ