Gerald Hausman

Gerald Hausman is a writer, editor, teacher, folklorist, and storyteller. His many books focus particularly on Native American themes and animal mythology, among other topics. Hausman’s work has earned him many honors and awards, and he has also appeared on television and radio programs. He also writes an award-winning column, “Pine Island Soundings” about life on a barrier island. Hausman’s most recent contribution to World Wisdom is as the author of The Otter, the Spotted Frog & the Great Flood: A Creek Indian Story, which was illustrated by Ramon Shiloh. The Otter, the Spotted Frog & the Great Flood is in our Wisdom Tales series of children’s books.

Gerald Hausman was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1945, and grew up in New Jersey and Massachusetts. He graduated from college in New Mexico and continued to live there for two decades. During that time, he had a summer residence on the island of Jamaica where he and his wife, Loretta, founded a school for creative writing.  Besides his writing, Mr. Hausman worked in publishing for a number of years as an editor and executive, taught English, and was the Poet-in-residence for a variety of educational institutions.

Hausman is also a multi-cultural storyteller who gathers and tells stories worldwide. In his school visits he includes a wide range of topics from writing as a career to American Indian mythology and from dogs of the Titanic to Great Danes in his own house. He was a special guest on the History Channel’s “Haunted Caribbean” program, telling tales of pirates and mermaids. On National Public Radio he spoke about gathering Native American stories.

Along with co-editor Bob Kapoun, Gerald Hausman has edited The Image Taker: The Selected Stories and Photographs of Edward S. Curtis, which features nearly 200 rarely seen photographs from Edward S. Curtis’ masterpiece, The North American Indian. The book combines the history and the stories from 26 tribes and  transports the reader to a now-lost age.