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Paul McHugh, Bio
Q: How do you accurately summarize 40 years of professional writing?
A: I can’t! Best I can do is hit a few of the high points!
One rousing pinnacle was publication of “Deadlines,” which won the 2011 Best Mystery award from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association and the 2011 Best Mystery prize from National Indie Excellence Awards.
“Deadlines,” (“a novel of murder, conspiracy and the media") is based on author Paul McHugh’s 22 years at the San Francisco Chronicle as lead outdoor feature writer, editor and reporter. In that period, he also won awards for his environment, resource use and sports coverage.
Other books include: “The Search for Goodbye-To-Rains” (a novel, Island Press, 1980); “Wild Places – 20 Journeys into the North American Outdoors” (non-fiction, Foghorn Press, 1994).
Prior to his start at the Chronicle in 1985, McHugh’s freelance career involved independent film production, which included, “The Eel – Life of a Threatened River” (aired statewide on PBS in 1982), and “Return of the Desert Bighorn” (aired nationwide on PBS in 1983).
After leaving the Chronicle in 2007, McHugh continued to publish feature stories in the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, San Jose Mercury News and other journals. He presently freelances part-time as a stringer on the outdoors beat for the Sacramento Bee.
Throughout his career, McHugh has maintained an adventurous outdoor lifestyle that informs his writing and invigorates his life. He was on the U.S. National Kayak Surfing Team in 1988, when it won a world championship at an international contest in Ireland. He ran all major rapids of the Grand Canyon on a 276-mile voyage in a whitewater kayak to celebrate his birthday in 2000. In 2005, he undertook his most ambitious project for the Chronicle, launching a 40-day, 400-mile sea kayak voyage from the Oregon border to San Francisco Bay. En route, he filed 36 stories in print and online, as well as five videocasts and four podcasts, covering environmental and social issues along the North Coast.
In addition, McHugh is an accomplished public speaker and stage performer. He has given keynote addresses at the 2007 Trails & Greenways Conference in San Francisco, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute annual dinner in 2008, the California Biodiversity Council annual dinner in 2009, and gave three visiting writer lectures at U.C. Davis in 2010
He has been interviewed about his novel “Deadlines” in 2010 by Michael Krasny on KQED-FM, Rick Kleffel on KUSP-FM, Russell Sadler on Jefferson Public Radio, and Jeff Callahan on Capitol Public Radio. In 2011, he has presented solo speaking performances at the Mark Twain Cultural Center at Lake Tahoe, at the Gualala Art Center, and benefit lectures for the Siskiyou Mountain Foundation in Mount Shasta and the Solano Library Foundation in Fairfield.
McHugh was born in Homestead, Florida. He has a summa cum laude degree in English from Florida State University in Tallahasee.
More on McHugh’s background and writing history is posted at his site, paulmchugh.net
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