Author

Diane Roberts is an 8th-generation Floridian, born and bred in Tallahassee, which probably explains her unhealthy fascination with Florida politics. Educated at Florida State University and Oxford University in England, she has been writing for newspapers since 1983, when she began producing columns on the legislature for the Florida Flambeau. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Oxford American, and Flamingo. She has been a member of the Editorial Board of the St. Petersburg Times–back when that was the Tampa Bay Times’s name–and a long-time columnist for the paper in both its iterations. She was a commentator on NPR for 22 years and continues to contribute radio essays and opinion pieces to the BBC. Roberts is also the author of four books, most recently Dream State, an historical memoir of her Florida family, and Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America. She lives in Tallahassee, except for the times she runs off to Great Britain, desperate for a different government to satirize.
Football’s female problem
By: Diane Roberts - September 10, 2018
It’s college football season, the time of year when men holler at television screens, women roll their eyes, and a good hunk of Florida’s population drapes itself in orange and blue or orange and green or garnet and gold, mainlines cheap beer, and reverts to a level of tribalism that would make the Sunni and […]
A 77-year-old South Florida environmentalist speaks out and gets sued, harrassed. She won’t back down.
By: Diane Roberts - August 6, 2018
In Martin County, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. You may express your opinion–about a dodgy water deal, say, or damage to certain wetlands–but if you challenge the wrong billionaire, if you urge your elected representatives to take action thwarting the plans of said billionaire, you may find yourself […]
The boy lawmaker from the family farm grows up — into a sellout
By: Diane Roberts - July 10, 2018
It’s shocking how Adam Putnam doesn’t get the respect he so richly deserves. The man has something like $37 million in his campaign account. As Commissioner of Agriculture, he’s got name recognition less accomplished politicos can only dream of, what with “Adam H. Putnam” emblazoned on every gas pump from Chumuckla to Miami Beach. He […]