About the Author
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Craig \;Pittman \;is a native Floridian\, a best-selling \;aut
hor\, a podcaster and an award-winning environmental reporter. Born in Pen
sacola\, he graduated from Troy State University in Alabama\, where his mu
ckraking work for the student paper prompted an agitated dean to label him
"the most destructive force on campus." In 40 years as a newspaper report
er\, he covered a variety of beats and quite a few natural disasters\, inc
luding hurricanes\, wildfires and the Florida Legislature. After 31 years
at the \;Tampa Bay Times\, he now writes a weekly column on environmen
tal issues for the \;Florida Phoenix \;and co-hosts the popular po
dcast "Welcome to Florida." He's the \;author \;of six non-fiction
books about what he calls "The Most Interesting State\," including the&nb
sp\;New York Times \;bestseller \;Oh\, Florida: How America's Weir
dest State Influences the Rest of the Country \;and \;Cat Tale: Th
e Wild Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther\, which \;Garden &\
; Gun \;magazine named one of the 20 best books of 2020. The Florida H
eritage Book Festival named him a Florida Literary Legend in 2020. In 2022
he was given the Rachel Carson Award by the national Sierra Club. He live
s in St. Petersburg with his wife and two children.
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