True Stories, True Believers

Exploring Nonfiction with Anita Silvey

Blog - True Stories, True Believers

Pete Seeger in Spain

On Wednesday, September 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the Boston (MA) Public Library, the new recipient of the Associates of the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residency Fellowship, Lisa Rosinsky, will be reading from her novel Robin & Mariana. The Writer-in-Residency Program at the BPL bestows not only an office and research support for someone at the beginning of her or his writing career but also an incredibly generous stipend. Lisa already has many other achievements to her credit –including a stint on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” – but I am grateful to her for making judging such a pleasant experience. Writers who unite judging panels should get special compensation.

However, what made me particularly happy the day we chose Lisa happened after the meeting. Then Charles Coe, poet and writing guru, approached me with a Pete Seeger story that I wish I had known while writing my book.

By Dan Tappan (originally posted to Flickr as p1190509.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Dan Tappan (originally posted to Flickr as p1190509.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Right before Pete entered the stage for a concert in Spain, he was approached by a government official with a list of songs that should not be performed. Looking over that paper, Pete saw that his entire program for the concert had been forbidden. Someone else might have been daunted by this turn of events – but not Pete.

First he told his audience what had happened. And then he announced that he wouldn’t sing the songs — but would play the chords. The audience needed to provide the words. That day an entire stadium of Spanish Pete Seeger fans joined him to create a unique and special event. This story, like so many of the ones about Pete Seeger, reaffirms the importance of the First Amendment in the lives of artists.

I look forward to hearing Lisa Rosinsky read at the Boston Public Library, grateful that she can present uncensored work, both to her judges and to her listeners.

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