David Robertson (writer)


David Alexander Robertson is an Indigenous graphic novelist and writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Of Swampy Cree heritage, Robertson has published over 25 books across a variety of genres. His first novel, The Evolution of Alice, was published in 2014.

Career

Robertson's graphic novels include the 7 Generations series, the Tales From Big Spirit series, and Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story, which tells the true story of a young Indigenous woman who was abducted and brutally murdered by four young men in 1971.
Robertson contributed to the anthologies Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings From the Land of Water and Love Beyond Body, Space & Time, and his work has been featured in CV2 and Prairie Fire
Robertson works as Publishing & Communications Manager at Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre.

Awards and nominations

Robertson was nominated for four Manitoba Book Awards in 2015, with The Evolution of Alice winning the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Author. He was nominated again in 2016 for the Beatrice Mosionier Award for Aboriginal Writer of the Year and the McNally Robinson Books for Young People Award. In 2017, he won the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Awards/GRAPHIC NOVEL Category for Will I See?, which was illustrated by GMB Chomichuk, cover design by Relish New Brand Experience, based on the story by Iskwé and Erin Leslie. He also won the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Awards/Younger Category for When We Were Alone, illustrated by Julie Flett, design by Relish New Brand Experience, as well as the Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award, tied with Trevor Greyeyes.
The Evolution of Alice was selected as the 2016 winner for On the Same Page, a joint initiative between the Winnipeg Public Library and the Winnipeg Foundation that encourages all Manitobans to read the same book. The Evolution of Alice was shortlisted for the Burt Award for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Literature.
Robertson won the Aboriginal Circle of Educators award for Research/Curriculum development in 2015.
In 2016, Robertson's graphic novel Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story was included on the In the Margins Official List for Nonfiction. Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story was also a finalist for the 2016 High Plains Book Award in the Creative Nonfiction category.
When We Were Alone won the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award, in the Young People's Literature - Illustrated Books category. It is also shortlisted for the 2017 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award.

Works

Adult and young adult literature

  • The Evolution of Alice
  • Strangers
  • Monsters
  • Ghosts
  • Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings From the Land of Water
  • Love Beyond Body, Space & Time

    Children's books

  • When We Were Alone

    Graphic novels

  • Will I See?
  • Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story
  • The Poet: Pauline Johnson
  • The Rebel: Gabriel Dumont
  • The Land of Os: John Ramsay
  • The Ballad of Nancy April: Shawnadithit
  • The Peacemaker: Thanadelthur
  • The Scout: Tommy Prince
  • The Chief: Mistahimaskwa
  • 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga
  • Sugar Falls
  • The Pact
  • Ends/Begins
  • Scars
  • Stone
  • This Place: 150 Years Retold