From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best Writer

September 21 2005

Carl Hiaasen
www.carlhiaasen.com

Comic novelist and Miami Herald Sunday columnist Carl Hiaasen is unique among South Florida writers in that he immortalizes our native absurdities in both fiction and nonfiction. The most famous descendent of a family that settled in Fort Lauderdale in 1922, Hiaasen takes the torrent of seedy stories that stretch from Tallahassee to his home in Islamorada and spins them into keenly observed satire. In novels such as Tourist Season, Sick Puppy, Basket Case and Skinny Dip, he lampoons politicians, developers, crooks and crackpots in briskly paced narratives that get to the heart of the outrageous truth. His column does pretty much the same, only the real-life characters are usually less likable. Hiaasen has been compared to Mark Twain, Preston Sturges and Woody Allen, which is incredible company to keep, except none of them could possibly capture what it means to be a Floridian the way Hiaasen does. A film version of his children's novel Hoot starring Owen Wilson recently wrapped in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Grande. Hiaasen's second children's book, Flush, was published Sept. 13.