Gerald Haslam

Gerald William Haslam (born March 18, 1937) is an author who has focused on rural and small towns in California's Great Central Valley including its poor and working class people of all colors. A native of Oildale, California, Haslam has received numerous literary awards. Most recently in a pair of biographies he and wife Janice E. Haslam have examined the life of Senator S. I. Hayakawa (In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa) and the life of a Depression migrant (Leon Patterson: A California Story). Reviewer David Peck labeled Haslam "the quintessential California writer." ("Gerald Haslam. the Heartland's Voice," The Californians, Jan.-Feb., 1988)

Early life and education

Haslam was born in Bakersfield, California, the son of an oil worker. Growing up in nearby Oildale, he attended Garces Memorial High School before working as a farm field hand, a store clerk and an oil field roustabout and roughneck. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958 through 1960. He attended Bakersfield College 1955-'57, 1960–61, then married Janice E. Pettichord in 1961. He then attended San Francisco State University, where he earned a B.A in 1963 and an M.A. in 1965. Haslam also attended, and gives great credit to, Washington State University, 1965 and 1966. He completed a Ph.D. from The Union Graduate School, (Cincinnati, OH) in 1980. He played college football, ran track and boxed in the Golden Gloves. He is a member of the Bakersfield College Track/Cross-country Hall of Fame.

Haslam's wife, Janice E. Haslam, has edited all his books and co-authored of three of them. They are the parents of Fred Haslam, lead developer of Sim City 2000; of "Anomalies" website developer Garth Haslam; and of magazine editor Alexandra Russell, who has been her father's partner on two books. Two other Haslam progeny—research biologist Simone Haslam Sawyer and Vivarium manager Carlos Haslam—are not involved in writing/publishing. Gerald and Janice are also the grandparents of 13.

Career

Haslam was a professor of English at Sonoma State University (SSU) from 1967 to 1997. As a professor emeritus at SSU, he has occasionally taught for the Oscher Lifelong Learning program (Sonoma State University)Template:See Oscher course catalogs He taught one course a year for the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco from 2001-2915. Template:See Fromm Institute Course Catalogues, 2002-2015 During his time at SSU he published numerous articles and stories in national and regional magazines. He was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday magazine and was a Contributing Writer for the Los Angeles Times Sunday magazine, and continues to be an op-ed contributor to the Sacramento Bee. Haslam also served for a time as a commentator for KQED-FM's "The California Report." His writing is widely anthologized.

Literary awards

Community Honors

Publications

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Anthologies edited

Booklets and Monographs

References

    Breiger, Marek., "Haslam's Oildale, Our California," California English, 28:4 (September/October, 1992); Dunn, Geoffrey, "Central Valley Boys," San Francisco Review of Books, 16:1 (Summer, 1991); Houston, James D., "Gerald Haslam's The Other California," California History, LXXII:3 (Fall 1993); Locklin, Gerald, "The Emergence of Gerald Haslam," Small Press Review April, 1989; Locklin, Gerald. "Gerald Haslam," Dictionary of Literary Biography, Number 99 (1989); Locklin, Gerald. "Gerald Haslam," Updating the Literary West]], Texas Christian University Press, 1997; Locklin, Gerald. Gerald Haslam, Western Writers Series, Boise, ID., No.77 (1989); Locklin, Gerald & Charles Stetler, "Interview with Gerald Haslam," Home Planet News, 4:3 (Fall 1983; Maloney, Mary Grace, Central Valley Mythology: The Works of Gerald Haslam, Honors Humanities Thesis, Stanford University, 1985; Peck, David,, "Gerald Haslam, the Heartland's Voice," The Californians, Jan-Feb 1988; Penna, Christina, "Heartland," California English 23:2 (March–April 1987); Ronald, Ann, "Gerald Haslam and Ann Ronald: A Conversation," Western American Literature, XXX:3 (August 1987); Siegel, Mark,, "Contemporary Trends in Western American Fiction," A Literary History of the American West (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1978; Speer, Laurel, "Harry and Gerry." Small Press Review, June, 1988; Starr, Kevin,, "Six Californias and the Central Valley," State Librarian's Weekly Column (online), May 19, 1995; Weeks, Jonina, A Contemporary Western Writer, Gerald Haslam: His Means to a New West and the World, Sonoma State University Master's Thesis, 1988; Wylder, Delbert, "Recent Western Fiction," Journal of the West, January 1988

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