Bob Laird

All Companions Sink (October 2013) is Bob Laird's fourth novel, taking up the story

of Marlon Brando Plover, the main character in Not That Far, Laird's second novel,

eleven years later when Plover has somehow become director of admissions at UC

Berkeley. The novel opens on the day in July 1995 that the University of California

Regents end affirmative action in UC Admissions. Partly comic in tone, the book is the

story of an important institution under great legal and political pressure and the acts of

betrayal, cowardice, and, occasionally, courage that result as Plover is forced to confront

the competing factions and often unstable individuals within that bureaucracy.

Laird began writing fiction in 1978 during annual two-month summer furloughs from

UC Berkeley. He completed a draft of The Grantee, his first novel, in 1979 and then Not

That Far in 1983 and Put Out in 1987. With each book, he piled up rejections from

agents and publishers, went into prolonged sulks, and then continued working on the

manuscripts while he focused on helping to raise a family and being an aggressive

advocate for affirmative action in the public policy and legal struggles in California and

the United States.

Growing up in Oakland, Laird graduated from Oakland Technical High School,

where he was an All-City basketball player, and attended what was then Oakland City

College. He transferred to UC Santa Barbara, where he completed a BA in physical

education (1962) and an MA in English (1965). During his senior year, he was named to

the All California Collegiate Athletic Association first team in basketball and chosen

Most Valuable Player on the UC Santa Barbara team.

Laird then taught English for three years at Long Beach City College before receiving a

Fulbright Grant to teach American literature in Denmark. After a second year in Europe,

he taught English and physical education for two years at Alhambra High School in

Martinez, California. He then enrolled at Bjorn's Hairstyling Academy in Vallejo,

completed 1600 hours of instruction and practice, and passed the State of California

cosmetology licensing test. He worked as an apprentice hairdresser at Kenny's

Workshop in Oakland and then as a hairdresser at The Raven in Berkeley. He has

faithfully renewed his cosmetology license every two years since 1976.

In 1977, Laird went to work for the University of California, Berkeley, where he spent 22 years in admissions and outreach, serving as director of undergraduate admission from 1993 until his retirement in 1999. During his retirement ceremony, the University awarded him the Berkeley Citation, its highest honor for staff. While at UC Berkeley, he was a frequent presenter at national admissions conferences and he served on the Guidance and Admission Assembly Council of the College Board from 1997-2000 and on the College Board's Overseas Schools Project Advisory Committee (East Asia) in 2000-01.

Following his retirement from Berkeley, Laird worked for ten years as an independent

consultant on higher education admissions policy and wrote extensively on admissions

and equity issues, including The Case for Affirmative Action in University Admissions,

published in 2005 by Bay Tree Publishing. As a consultant, his clients included the

University of Florida, West Virginia University, Herricks Unified Free School District

(New Hyde Park, New York), John Cabot University in Rome, and Standards for Success

(a joint project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the American Association of

Universities). His most recent articles are "Regents, president betray students," which

appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle (December 20, 2009) and "The Trouble with

Transferring: It Shouldn't be So Difficult," which appeared in the March 27, 2009, issue

of The Chronicle of Higher Education. His work has also appeared in the Sacramento

Bee and National CrossTalk, among other places.

A dedicated runner for many years, Laird won Best Costume in the 1981 Bay to Breakers race, running in a full bridal outfit, including veil and a plastic floral bouquet. He lives in Berkeley with his spouse Karen Rice. They have two sons, Sam, 28, a journalist for Mashable.com, and Casey, 24, currently traveling in Turkey.

bob_laird@comcast.net

bob-laird.com