Gerald William Haslam (born March 18, 1937) is the author credited with having created an awareness of "the other California" (in a book of the same name), the state's untrendy small town and rural reaches. A native of Oildale in the Bakersfield area, he has often written about the Great Central Valley (also in a book of the same name), about country music (Workin' Man Blues), about the despair and exultation of blue collar people in a golden state (That Constant Coyote, Condor Dreams, Straight White Male, etc.), winning numerous literary awards. Reviewer David Peck labeled him "the quintessential California writer."
Haslam was born in Bakersfield, the son of an oil worker. Growing up in nearby Oildale, he worked as a farm field hand, a store clerk, and an oil field roughneck. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960. He attended San Francisco State University, receiving an A.B. in 1963 and an M.A. in 1965. He completed a Ph.D. from the Union Graduate School in 1980. He also played college football, ran track, and boxed in the Golden Gloves.
Haslam taught at Sonoma State University (SSU) from 1967 to 1997 as a professor of English. He was a generalist, teaching everything from elementary linguistics to regional literature to writing. Now a professor emeritus at SSU...where he occasionally teaches for the Oscher Lifelong Learning program...he also now teaches for the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco, and serves as an adjunct professor for the Union Graduate School. During his time at Sonoma State and after, he published hundreds of articles and stories in both national and regional magazines. He was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday magazine and a Contributing Writer for the Los Angeles Times' Sunday magazine, and a commentator for KQED-FM's "The California Report." His writing is widely anthologized.He is also the father of computer-game innovator Fred Haslam, illustrator Garth Haslam and editor-writer Alexandra Haslam Russell.
