Lee Irby

Lee Irby is an American novelist and historian who is the author of 7,000 CLAMS and THE UP AND UP, both published by Doubleday. Irby's work centers on the quirks of Florida's history, the interplay of natural beauty and rampant corruption and violence that marked the Sunshine State in the 1920s. He teaches at Eckerd College, a private liberal arts school located in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Irby was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1963. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1986 with degrees in English and History. He then set about seeing the world, living in St. Croix, Italy, Mexico, and several major U.S. cities. He came of age in Key West, Florida, where he worked many odd jobs but found his voice as a writer amid the human debris of that island city. His agent is Elaine Markson, one of the legends of New York publishing, and his editor is Jason Kaufman, who has guided Dan Brown to his remarkable success.

Sources

St. Petersburg Times, January 31, 2005.Miami Herald, June 20, 2006