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. 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. 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.