Pete Hautman

Peter Murray Hautman (born September 29, 1952) is an American author of novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god - the town's water tower."
Under the name Peter Murray, Hautman has written more than 50 short books for the schools market beginning in 1992 with the titles Beavers, Black widows, Dogs, Rhinos, Snakes, and Spiders.

Hautman was born in Berkeley, California and moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota at the age of five. He graduated from St. Louis Park High School and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota during the next seven years without receiving a degree from either institution. After working at several jobs for which he calls himself "ill-suited", Hautman's first novel, Drawing Dead, was published in 1993.

• Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, 2011, The Big Crunch
• National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2004, Godless
• Minnesota Book Award for Mrs. Million (2000), Sweetblood (2004), Godless (2005) and Blank Confession (2011)
• Wisconsin Library Association Awards for Rag Man (2002) and Invisible (2006)
• Michigan Library Association "Thumbs Up" Award for Mr. Was (1997) and Rash (2007)

• "2004 National Book Award Winner: Young People's Literature". NBF. Retrieved 2013-11-22.