About
Joseph O. Hayes is a San Francisco–based writer and memoirist. His debut memoir, Another Generation Ruined, a finalist for the Santa Fe Writers Program Literary Awards, is a voice-driven coming-of-age story set in 1980s Massachusetts, chronicling a childhood shaped by a highly publicized divorce, maternal abuse, religious extremism, and the private cost of becoming oneself under constant scrutiny. The work explores family fracture, queer identity, and the lifelines found in pop music and storytelling.
His writing has appeared in Avalon Literary Review and as a featured essay on ihavethatonvinyl.com. Hayes is developing a screenplay adaptation of Another Generation Ruined.
Featured Work
ANOTHER GENERATION RUINED
Set in 1980s Massachusetts, Another Generation Ruined follows a boy trapped inside a divorce so bitter it spills into national headlines, leaving him caught between his mother’s wrath and a church quick to condemn. As his family implodes, his deepest secret—being gay—feels impossible to survive. Refuge comes in unlikely forms: a suburban record store, the voice of Tina Turner, and the saving grace of pop music. Against a freewheeling Gen-X backdrop of heavy metal, roller skating, drugs, and estrangement, Another Generation Ruined is a brutally candid, wickedly funny memoir about resilience, chosen family, and a boy determined to make it out alive.
Other Works
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I Might Have Been Queen (Essay)
2025
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Feelin' Good Vibes (Essay)
2025
Awards and Recognition
- Another Generation Ruined, a finalist for the 2025 Santa Fe Writers Program Literary Awards
