Robert Mailer Anderson (born 1968) is an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, Grammy-nominated producer and activist. He is the author of the bestselling 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. In August 2020, Anderson was appointed to the California Humanities Board of Directors by Governor Gavin Newsom. 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 (daughter of Oracle Corporation cofounder Bob 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 $65 million campaign to build the SFJAZZ Center, the first freestanding building for jazz performance and