Chip Hughes grew up in Southern California and learned to surf in San Diego in the 1960s. After earning degrees in business, humanities, and English, culminating in a Ph.D. from Indiana University, he moved to the Islands in 1981 to teach at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, and to take up surfing again. At U.H. he has taught courses in American literature, writing, and popular fiction, including the mystery.

His publications include Beyond The Red Pony: A Reader’s Companion to Steinbeck’s Complete Short Stories (1987)—translated into Japanese in 1990; John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction (1989); and numerous essays and reviews. He has spoken at conferences on Steinbeck and other topics. His photos and writing have also appeared in Porsche Panorama, national magazine of the Porsche Club of America, and he is copy editor of Sonne Porsche, the PCA-Hawai‘i newsletter.

Chip is an active member of the Private Eye Writers of America. He lives in Lanikai in windward O'ahu with wife Charlene. They have a grown son, Nathan, and two retrievers, Boomer and Princess. Chip is a member of the Outdoor Circle and the Labrador, Golden Retriever, and Porsche clubs of Hawai‘i. He surfs when time allows at various spots around O‘ahu.