Robert Mailer Anderson


Robert Mailer Anderson is an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and activist. He is the author of the novel Boonville, which takes place in the Northern California town of Boonville, and the 2016 play The Death of Teddy Ballgame. He is a contributor to the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Anderson is a three-time San Francisco Library Laureate and in 2016 he was presented the San Francisco Arts Medallion for his outstanding leadership in the arts.

Family background

Anderson was born in San Francisco. He is a ninth-generation native of California. Anderson and his two siblings were raised by divorced blue-collar parents. As a young man he spent five years living with his father at Grapevine Group Home for juvenile delinquents and disturbed youth, where his father was the director. He also spent time at his father’s prior workplace, Fern Hill School, run by his uncle Bruce Anderson, where residents included future serial killer David Mason and Darrell Waters, who murdered one of the Fern Hill counselors. His uncle, Bruce Anderson, is the publisher of the Anderson Valley Advertiser for which Robert has been a contributor since 1984 and a fiction editor. During his time as fiction editor, Anderson attracted talents like Daniel Handler, Sandow Birk, Floyd Salas and Michelle Tea.

Writing career

Anderson's short story "36-28-34-7" was published by Christopher Street in 1995. Boonville was published in 2001 by Bay Area independent publisher Creative Arts Book Publishing, and was then picked up for paperback reprint by HarperCollins.
In 2007 he co-wrote, produced, and appeared in Pig Hunt, a horror film set in Northern California.
Anderson's play "The Death of Teddy Ballgame" was published by San Francisco publishing press Molotov Editions in 2016.
Anderson is co-writer and producer of the film, "Windows on the World" starring Ryan Guzman and Edward James Olmos as well as a graphic novel of the same name, based on the screenplay and published by Fantagraphics Books.

Personal life

Anderson lives in San Francisco. Married to the heiress Nicola Miner, he is a former board member of the San Francisco Opera, and SFJAZZ. During his ten years on the SFJAZZ board, Anderson spearheaded the $69 million campaign to build the SFJAZZ Center, the first freestanding building for jazz performance and education in America. Anderson named the campaign "The World is Listening" and the phrase was later used to promote the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards. On February 16, 2012, he and his wife hosted Barack Obama's fundraising visit to San Francisco, at his home in Pacific Heights. Singer Al Green, bassist Les Claypool, harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and blues player Booker T. Jones performed for the fundraiser. Anderson was named the Colonial Standard Bearer for the 2013 Selkirk Common Riding in Selkirk, Scotland. His great-grandfather, Robert "Honolulu Bob" Anderson was a founder of the Colonial Society and received the same honor as Colonial Standard Bearer one hundred years prior, in 1913.

Activism

In June 2004, Anderson created an anti-Iraq War poster campaign which juxtaposed an Abu Graib prisoner, the American Flag, and the slogan "Got Democracy?". The poster became part of the collection at Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles.

Selected works

Books
Film
Albums