Birthday profile

Andy Straka

Andy Straka, American author

Born
September 29, 1958
Age in 2026
68
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1958

About Andy Straka

Andy Straka is a Shamus Award-winning American crime novelist. Born and raised in upstate New York and a graduate of Williams College, he worked in publishing and medical sales for nearly fifteen years before turning to writing in the late 1990s. His debut private-eye novel, A Witness Above, garnered Shamus, Anthony, and Agatha Award nominations for Best First Novel in 2002. A Killing Sky received an Anthony Award nomination in 2003, and Straka's third book, Cold Quarry, won a 2004 Shamus Award. His series of six Frank Pavlicek novels features a former New York City police detective who also spends much of his time flying various hawks to help inspire him to solve criminal cases. The fourth novel in the Pavlicek series, Kitty Hitter, was called a "great read" by Library Journal. Kitty Hitter was re-released with a new title, The Night Falconer, as an e-book and paperback. A fifth book featuring Pavlicek is the novella Flightfall. Another full-length novel, The K Street Hunting Society, was released as book 6 in the Pavlicek series in 2014. Straka's inaugural non-series novel, Record of Wrongs, was labelled "a first-rate thriller" by Mystery Scene magazine in 2008. Straka also has written a short story, Directions For Disassembly Of An Old Set Of Swings, and he recently reworked his first novel, A Witness Above, into an edition for teenagers, including a falconry primer.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Andy Straka timeline

  1. His debut private-eye novel, A Witness Above, garnered Shamus, Anthony, and Agatha Award nominations for Best First Novel in 2002.
  2. A Killing Sky received an Anthony Award nomination in 2003, and Straka's third book, Cold Quarry, won a 2004 Shamus Award.
  3. Straka's inaugural non-series novel, Record of Wrongs, was labelled "a first-rate thriller" by Mystery Scene magazine in 2008.

The world when Andy Straka was born

Andy Straka was born in 1958. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1958

  • #1 song"Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" – Domenico Modugno
  • Top movieGigi
  • Top TV showGunsmoke
  • Best-selling bookDoctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentNFL Championship "Greatest Game Ever Played" — Colts vs Giants
  • Top headlineNASA created as the United States enters the Space Race
  • Technology milestoneNASA founded
  • Defining fadHula Hoops — 25 million sold in 4 months
  • Notable inventionHula Hoop
  • World population2.93 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonSt. Louis Hawks (NBA)
  • U.S. population174.1M

1958 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Andy Straka's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19582026
Gas$0.31$3.45/gal
Average home$12,750$435,000
Average income$6,600$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.68$11.95
Postage stamp$0.04$0.73
Population174.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.