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2015 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS ISSUE COGNOTES • 15
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articulate Mohawk chosen to translate his spiritual guide the Peacemaker's message of unity for the five warring Iro-quois nations during the 14th century. This message not only united the tribes, but also forever changed how the Iroquois governed themselves — a blueprint for democracy that would later inspire the authors of the U.S. Constitution.
Robertson is perhaps best known as the lead guitarist and primary songwriter of the legendary musical group The Band. Born of Mohawk and Cayuga descent, Robertson said he first heard the story of Hiawatha when he was nine years old, at the Six Nations reserve, where his mother was born and raised.
“I heard an elder tell this story, and it ran right through me,” he said. “I have never been able to shake the effect of what that storytelling had on me.”
He told his mother, “When I grow up, I want to tell stories like that.”
He said that it was at the urging of his son Sebastian that the book project began, he credited his son with conducting the research.
When the time arrived to choose an illustrator, Robertson said he asked his publisher, Abrams Books for Young Readers, “Who is the best in the world to do the illustrations for this? I didn't say, ‘Who is the best in town?'”
He was led to Shannon, seeing his cover for The Rough Face Girl.
“It just tore my heart out just looking at this illustration,” he said.
Shannon was “a goner” after Robertson played a song he wrote about Hiawatha and the Peacemaker.
The story of Hiawatha is commonly known in this country through a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Song of Hiawatha.” But Robertson said, “His story (of Hiawatha) has nothing to do with the real story of Hiawatha.”
The internationally acclaimed illustrator of numerous bestselling books for children, whose illustrations have appeared in a wide variety of publications including The New York Times, Time, and Rolling Stone, Shannon called the partnership “a true collaboration,” pointing out that it is more common for the illustrator and the author to work separately, with the editor serving as a conduit.
“I wasn't going to have any of that,” he said.
Shannon said he once wrote a story about a magic fish named Jangles, who tells stories from the beginning of time.
“At one point, he tells a young boy, ‘I'm a storyteller and a story.'” Shannon said, “Robbie is kind of like that fish. Not as cold and clammy.”
Robertson and Shannon also spoke about the impact of libraries on their lives.
Robertson said that when he was growing up, “There was two sides to the coin on libraries. There was the side of it where this is where you could find out everything that you know, everything you need to know. But there was a side of it where cool kids and tough kids . . . you go to the library, you're going to get a knuckle sandwich. There was an edginess to it.”
Years later, when he began playing music professionally, he said he became a bookworm, “trying to make up for something that I felt was missing by reading a lot.”
Eventually, when he was writing “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and seeking a different perspective, he sat at a library to do his research.
“Here I was, back doing rock and roll and had to go to the library to get it right,” he said.
Robertson told his mother, “When I grow up, I want to tell stories like that.”
Creator of Award for Excellence In Military Fiction Passes Away
William Young Boyd II, who created the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction passed away on December 31, 2014, at the age of 88. He was born March 5, 1926, ,in Panama City, Republic of Panama.
Boyd graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 1944 and was drafted into the U.S. Army as an infantry replacement. He was in combat in Europe from January 1945 through the end of the war in May. As part of the distinguished 242nd Infantry Regiment of the Rainbow Division, he participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp, and saw action in the Alsace, the Ardennes, the Rhineland, and Central Europe. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Bronze Star Medal for exemplary conduct under enemy fire and three campaign stars on his E.T.O. (European Theater of Operations) medal. His Antitank Division earned a Presidential Unit Citation for its heroic and successful stand against overwhelming odds during the German winter offensive in January 1945. Boyd received a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in battle. On June 6, 2014 (the 70th anniversary of D-Day), Mr. Boyd was awarded the French Legion of Honor at the French Embassy in Panama.
Boyd was the author of five published novels, including three on World War II: The Gentle Infantryman, A Fight for Love and Glory, and A Rendezvous with Death, as well as Bolivar: Liberator of a Continent and Panama and the Canal, which have been translated into Spanish. He has also written pieces for the Wall Street Journal (principally about the necessity for a sea-level canal in Panama).
The W. Y. Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction was created in 1995 and for two years was administrated by the American Publishing Association. In 1997 Boyd moved it to the American Library Association. In 2005 Boyd endowed the award. Boyd attended many ALA Annual Conferences to present the award in person. He was extremely proud of the ALA award and its ability to shine a spotlight on history and war-related fiction.
A list of the authors who have won the award can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.Y._Boyd_Literary_Award_for_Excellence_in_Military_Fiction. This year's winner of the W. Y. Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction is Phil Klay, author of Redeployment, published by Penguin Press.
ALA outgoing President Courtney L. Young turns the gavel over to incoming ALA President Sari Feldman
OCLC research scientist Constance Malpas talks about the emerging higher education landscape and learning to embrace its challenges during the ACRL President's Program: “The Power of Mindset: Fostering Grit on the Way to New Roles.”
