I got overwhelmed by the magnitude of the celebrity culture in America. My background is as a news journalist, and newsrooms in the US are shrinking - investigation teams are being terminated or shrunk on newspapers all around the country. The one aspect that's expanded is coverage of celebrity culture.

Hiaasen's young adult novels follow the theme of environmental issues. Hiaasen lives in Vero Beach Florida. He was a reporter for Cocoa Today (Cocoa Florida) for two years beginning in 1974 and then was hired by the Miami Herald in 1976 where he still works.

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