ENCAMPMENT, Wyo. – Cherokee writer Robert J. Conley was recently named the 2014 recipient of the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature. The award is given by the Western Writers of America as its highest honor.
Conley was the Sequoyah Distinguished Professor in Cherokee Studies and founding director of the Tsalagi Institute at Western Carolina University. He was also the immediate past president of Western Writers of America, and the author of around 80 books, including the Spur Award-winning novels “The Dark Island” and “Nickajack.” He also won a Spur for his short story “Yellow Bird: An Imaginary Autobiography,” published in “The Witch of Goingsnake.”
Among his other novels are “Mountain Windsong,” “War Woman,” “Cherokee Dragon,” “Sequoyah” and “Brass.”
Conley has blended a career as a novelist with historical research and publishing, including material about his tribe: “A Cherokee Encyclopedia” and “Cherokee Thoughts Honest & Uncensored.”
His poems and short stories have been published in numerous periodicals and anthologies over the years in Germany, France, Belgium, New Zealand and Yugoslavia. They appear in multiple languages: English, Cherokee, German, French and Macedonian.
He also wrote the novelization of a screenplay, “Geronimo: An American Legend,” published in the United States by Pocket Books and reprinted in translation in Italy.
His first novel, “Back to Malachi,” was written “out of anger,” Conley said, rooted in misrepresentations of Ned Christie, “a Cherokee who was falsely accused of murder and hounded for 4-1/2 years before he was killed by a huge posse.” At the time, publishers did not believe they could publish a Western with an Indian protagonist, but Conley’s work broke the threshold as he went on to assist in the early development of Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers, which encourages American Indian writers.
Robert Conley died Sunday morning, Feb. 16, 2014.
Robert J. Conley
December 29, 1940 – February 16, 2014
Commentary by LISA SNELL
He drank his Wild Turkey “unmolested” (no ice or additives) and preferred his cigarettes the same way – smoking the chemical and additive free American Spirit brand. He always had a pack tucked into the pocket of his snap up plaid western shirt that he wore neatly tucked in to his Wrangler jeans. A pair of worn cowboy boots peeped out from the hems of those neatly pressed jeans - jeans that were kept in place by a set of ever present suspenders. A cowboy hat was usually set upon his brow, shading his lined and bespectacled face.
He was Robert J. Conley, Cherokee author, when we first met. He soon became “uncle Robert” and one of my favorite people after I married his nephew. At our wedding reception we left a small bottle of Wild Turkey next to Robert’s seat, much to his wife Evelyn’s dismay. It was a little joke on her and one that delighted Robert. Robert was always up for a drink, a joke and a laugh – even if the joke and laugh was at his expense.
His orneriness often elicited exasperated sighs from Evelyn and much laughter around the dinner table as he and my husband would tell stories on each other.
Robert walked on this morning, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014. There won’t be any new tales to tell or jokes to be made. We are left with the happy memories in our hearts and a shelf full of books with “By Robert J. Conley” or merely “CONLEY” printed along the spines. My favorite however, is “Cherokee Thoughts: Honest and Uncensored.” It’s a collection of essays that take on politics, life, culture, history and what it means to be a Cherokee. His wit is evident throughout and when you finish reading, you are left knowing who Robert was. What made him laugh, what made him angry, and what inspired him.
His first novel, “Back to Malachi,” was published in 1986. Since then, he had more than 70 books published, a collection of short stories, several reprints, and many books on tape. Robert also wrote the novelization of a screenplay, “Geronimo: An American Legend.”
Robert was a member of the Western Writers of America and won two Spur awards for his novels “Nickajack” and “The Dark Island. ” He won another Spur award for his short story “Yellow Bird: An Imaginary Autobiography,” published in “The Witch of Goingsnake.” In 1997, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame.
Do na da' go hv i, uncle Robert. We will see each other again. I’ll bring the Wild Turkey.
Robert J. Conley is pictured in his home with the 2014 Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature.
COURTESY PHOTO
Robert J. Conley is pictured in his home with the 2014 Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature.
COURTESY PHOTO