Gerald Andrews Hausman (born October 13, 1945) is a storyteller and award-winning author of books about Native America, animals, mythology, and West Indian culture. Hausman has published over seventy books for both children and adults.
Biography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to engineer father Sidney Hausman and mother Dorothy "Little" Hausman, Gerald grew up in New Jersey and Massachusetts before moving to New Mexico for college. Hausman attended New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where he obtained his B.A. in English Literature.
After graduation, Hausman married Loretta "Lorry" Wright and moved to Lenox, Massachusetts, where he taught creative writing and English at the Windsor Mountain School. The Hausmans, along with David Silverstein, founded The Bookstore Press, which published some of the first paperback books for children. These included such authors as Ruth Krauss, Maurice Sendak, Crockett Johnson, Aram Saroyan and Paul Metcalf. In 1977, Gerald and Lorry moved to Tesuque, New Mexico, where they lived for seventeen years, raising two daughters, Hannah and Mariah.
During this time, Hausman worked as poetry teacher, editor, publisher and English teacher at Santa Fe Preparatory School in nearby Santa Fe, going on to found the Blue Harbour School of Creative Writing on the former estate of playwright Noël Coward in Port Maria, Jamaica. In addition, he worked as a poet in the schools in the city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Starting with the 2002 publication The Boy From Nine Miles: The Early Life of Bob Marley, Hausmann has collaborated on five books co-authored with Cedella Marley, the daughter of late musician Bob Marley.
Hausman has performed readings and storytellings throughout the United States and Europe. He has also been a presenter for National Public Radio, History Channel, Haunted History: Caribbean, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Miami Book Fair International and American Library Association.
Awards
Union College Poetry Prize, 1965 for Quebec Poems
American Folklore Society, Aesop Accolade Award (Children's Section), 1995 for Duppy Talk: West Indian Tales of Mystery and Magic Notable Social Studies Book for Young people designation, Children's Book Council (CBC)/ National Council for the Social Studies, 1996, and 1999, for Doctor Bird: Three Lookin' Up Tales from Jamaica Pick of the Lists Selection, the American Booksellers Association (ABA), 1999, for Dogs of Myth: Tales from Around the World Bank Street College of Education Best Book Selection, 2000, for Tom Cringle: Battle on the High Seas and Cats of Myth: Tales from around the World Parents' Choice Award Silver Medal for NonFiction, designation, 2003 New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age designation, 2004 for Escape from Botany Bay National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council, Best Book Designation, 2007, for A Mind With Wings Midwest Book Awards Children's Picture Books, Illustration: Graphic, and Total Book Design, USA Today Best Books Award, Foreword IndieFab Book of the Year in Picture Books, Early Reader, 2013, for "The Otter, The Spotted Frog and the Great Flood: A Creek Indian Story."