Carl Hiaasen
Born	(1953-03-12) March 12, 1953 (age 59) Plantation, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist, Journalist
Nationality	American
Genres	Crime Fiction, Thrillers, Satirical Fiction
Subjects	Environmentalism, government corruption
Spouse(s)	Fenia Clizer (1999–present) Connie Lyford (1970–1996)
www.carlhiaasen.com

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

Early years[link]

Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage,^[1] Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia. He married Connie Lyford just after high school graduation and entered Emory University in 1970, where he contributed numerous satiric pieces to the school newspaper, The Emory Wheel. 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. Carl and Connie divorced in 1996, and he married Fenia Clizer in 1999. He has one son from each of his two marriages.

He was a reporter for Cocoa Today (Cocoa, Florida) for two years, beginning in 1974, then was hired by the Miami Herald in 1976, where he still (as of 2011^[update]) works.^[2] In 1979 he switched to investigative journalism, initially focusing on property development and the construction industry, exposing schemes to despoil the natural beauty of Florida for profit; several of his novels have plots based on such themes. He began writing a regular column in 1985; initially three times a week, but after the success of his novels, he cut back to weekly.^[3]

Novelist[link]

After becoming an investigative reporter, Hiaasen began to write novels. His first three were co-written by fellow journalist Bill Montalbano: Powder Burn (1981), Trap Line (1981), and A Death in China (1986). Montalbano accepted a job as a foreign correspondent in 1986 and Hiaasen wrote his first solo novel, Tourist Season, where most of the themes and style used in subsequent books were introduced.^[2]

Hiaasen's fiction mirrors his concerns as a journalist and Floridian. His novels have been classified as "environmental thrillers" and are usually found on the mystery shelves in bookshops, although they can just as well be read as mainstream reflections of contemporary life. His books have been published in 33 different languages.

He said this about Florida: "The Sunshine State is a paradise of scandals teeming with drifters, deadbeats, and misfits drawn here by some dark primordial calling like demented trout. And you'd be surprised how many of them decide to run for public office." ^[4] He has called Florida Governor Rick Scott "an ideological extremist who doesn't like any form of government snooping."^[5]

Hiaasen's Florida is a hive of greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, dumb blondes, apathetic retirees, intellectually challenged tourists, hard-luck redneck cooters, and militant ecoteurs. It is the same Florida of John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee, but aged another 20 years and viewed with a more satiric or sardonic eye.

Hiaasen's first venture into writing children's novels was Hoot, which received the Newbery Honor Award and was made into a movie, with Jimmy Buffett playing the role of a classroom teacher and Hiaasen appearing in a cameo role.^[6][7] Hiaasen's second children's novel was Flush,^[8], then Scat and lastly, Chomp.. Hiaasen's young adult novels follow the theme of environmental issues. They also have his characteristic unique characters and some theme of adventure.

Hiaasen worked for several years with British theatre producers for the adaptation of his bestseller Lucky You; the resulting play includes music by Loudon Wainwright III, and premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008.^[9]

In addition to writing, Hiaasen also does speaking engagements and lectures.

Hiaasen is also noted as the person who discovered and 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 Hiaasen's notice in 2002. Hiaasen immediately recommended the novel to publishing house Alfred A. Knopf. The novel went on to become an astounding success, marking the start of a book series that sold over 30 million copies worlwide.

Bibliography[link]

Fiction[link]

Adult Fiction[link]

• Tourist Season (1986)
• Double Whammy (1987)
• Skin Tight (1989)
• Native Tongue (1991)
• Strip Tease (1993) (filmed in 1996 as Striptease by Andrew Bergman, starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds)^[2]
• Stormy Weather (1995)
• Lucky You (1997)
• Naked Came the Manatee (1998) (Collaboration with 12 other authors)
• Sick Puppy (2000)
• Basket Case (2002)
• Skinny Dip (2004)
• Nature Girl (2006)
• Star Island (2010)

With Bill Montalbano

• Powder Burn (1981)
• Trap Line (1982)
• A Death in China (1984)

Young Adult Fiction[link]

• Hoot (2002) (young adult novel) (released as a movie in May 2006 by director Wil Shriner)^[2]
• Flush (2005) (young adult novel)
• Scat (2009) (young adult novel)
• Chomp (2012) (young adult novel)

Short stories[link]

• "Tart of Darkness" (2003, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue)

Non-fiction[link]

• Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (1998)
• Kick Ass (1999)
• Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns (2001)
• The Downhill Lie (2008)

Collections[link]

• A Carl Hiaasen Collection (2000) (an audiobook set containing Tourist Season, Stormy Weather, and Strip Tease)

Awards[link]

Hoot, Hiassen's first book for young readers, has won both a Newbery Honor from the Association for Library Service to Children and won the 2005 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award, selected for the latter honor by school-age children (grades 4-8) in the U.S. State of Illinois.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Carl Hiaasen's homepage
• Carl Hiaasen's columns in The Miami Herald
• Works by or about Carl Hiaasen in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

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Linwood Barclay is a Canadian-American humourist, author and former columnist. He has published books of autobiography and both humorous and dramatic detective fiction, and he formerly wrote the thrice-weekly humour column in the Toronto Star, as well as releasing a podcast with his articles. He recently took a one year sabbatical to promote his mystery novels. He planned to return to the Star in September 2008 but on June 28, 2008 he wrote his last column announcing his retirement from the Star.

Barclay lives in Burlington, Ontario with his wife and son.

Bibliography[link]

Non-fiction[link]

• Last Resort: A Memoir
• Mike Harris Made Me Eat My Dog
• Father Knows Zilch: A Guide for Dumbfounded Dads
• This House Is Nuts!

Fiction[link]

External links[link]

• Columns, Toronto Star
• Official website

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/authors/barclay-linwood
2. ^ http://www.linwoodbarclay.com/about.html

This article about a Canadian writer or poet is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Jon Plowman (born 1953 in Welwyn Garden City, England) has been a producer at the BBC since 1980, when he produced Russell Harty's chat show Harty. He moved on to executive producing at the BBC in 1986, working on sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and became head of comedy entertainment in 1994, mainly responsible for sketch shows.

Plowman was educated in Welwyn Garden City and at University College, Oxford,^[1] where was a member of the University College Players^[2] and made friends with others who went on to establish successful careers in comedy. One, Mel Smith, directed Plowman in a production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. After Oxford, Plowman followed Smith to the Royal Court Theatre, where he met the director Lindsay Anderson. Plowman worked in theatre for a while, then joined Granada TV.

He was responsible for producing and commissioning programmes produced in-house at the BBC, of which the greatest successes include The Office and French & Saunders. Plowman became head of comedy in October 2005, and now oversees the BBC's in-house comedy production, but no longer commissions programmes. In June 2007, Plowman announced he was quitting his post at the BBC after 27 years. He decided to become a free-lance producer for other shows and hoped to carry on his relationship with the BBC, continuing to create programmes "for them and elsewhere."^[3]

In December 2003, The Observer named him in its list of the '50 Funniest or Most Influential People in British Comedy'.^{[citation needed]} On 14 March 2006, he was honoured with the 'Judges' Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Television' at the Royal Television Society awards.^{[citation needed]}

More recently he has moved into the world of theatre. He co-produced Lucky You, the Carl Hiassen bestseller that is premiered as a theatre production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Programmes produced by Jon Plowman[link]

• A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1986)
• French & Saunders (1987)
• Smith and Jones (1989)
• Bottom (1991)
• Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
• Kit and The Widow (1992)
• The Stand Up Show (1994)
• The Vicar of Dibley (1994)
• Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)
• Goodness Gracious Me (1998)
• The Ben Elton Show (1998)
• This Morning with Richard Not Judy (1998)
• BBC New Comedy Awards (1999)
• Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999)
• Let Them Eat Cake (1999)
• People Like Us (1999)
• Sir Bernard's Stately Homes (1999)
• The League of Gentlemen (1999)
• Bruiser (2000)
• Life's A Pitch (2000)
• Mirrorball (2000)
• Rhona (2000)
• The Nearly Complete And Utter History Of Everything (2000)
• The Office (2000)
• The Way It Is (2000)
• Tv to Go (2000)
• Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings (2000)
• We are History (2000)
• Aaagh! It's the Mr. Hell Show (2001)
• 15 Storeys High (2002)
• Celeb (2002)
• Cyderdelic (2002)
• Dead Ringers (2002)
• Grass (2003)
• Little Britain (2003)
• The Harringham Harker (2003)
• Doctors and Nurses (2004)
• Comic Aid (2005)
• Extras (2005)
• The Late Edition (2005)
• The Robinsons (2005)
• The Thick of It (2005)
• The Brown Couch (2006)
• Jam and Jerusalem (2006) executive producer
• The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007)
• Beautiful People (2008)
• Psychoville (2009)
• Twenty Twelve (2011)

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2010)

External links[link]

• Jon Plowman at the Internet Movie Database
• Jon Plowman at the BBC Comedy Guide