Charlton Laird was born in Nashua, Iowa, in 1901. He attended the universities of Iowa, Columbia, and Stanford. In 1943 he went to the University of Nevada as head of the Department of English. Aside from his work as a lecturer and author, Laird was a member of the Modern Language Association of America and of the National Council of Teachers of English. He wrote extensively on language acquisition, use, and teaching.

Laird wrote two novels, Thunder On The River and West of the River, which both appeared in the early 1950s, in addition to other books and textbooks. Charlton Laird died in 1984.