Chas Smith

CHAS SMITH is the author of Blessed are the Bank Robbers (Abrams Books), Cocaine + Surfing: A Sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love Affair (Red Sofa Books), Reports from Hell (Rare Bird Books) Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell (It Books/HarperCollins), Chas began his writing career as a foreign correspondent, penning pieces for Vice, Paper, and Blackbook, amongst others, from Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Azerbaijan, and Colombia which led to a brief career as a war correspondent for Current TV. After being kidnapped by Hezbollah during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, he transitioned to surf journalism where he was a featured writer at the brash Stab before becoming Editor at Large at Surfing Magazine. There he developed a reputation as the most controversial voices in the space. Matt Warshaw, author of the Encyclopedia of Surfing, calls him, “Bright and hyper-ironic.” He is the co-owner of a surf website, BeachGrit.