Remembering Allan Horton (Biography‪)‬

We do not go to conferences to be moved: stimulated, inspired, revved-up, yes. But moved? Only occasionally. Conferences are not famous for it. That's why president Imogen Garner's bold and inspired step of paying tribute to the giants of the profession who had recently left us was for me the highlight of the 2004 Biennial Conference and one of the most moving ALIA events in recent years. We have many heroes--more than we think. And far too many of them are unsung: we are not a singing profession. We manage, dutifully, the standard 1000--word obituary when occasion demands it, but even those are often difficult to come by, for obvious reasons. And they are, necessarily, somewhat formal and structured. Depending on circumstances a memorial service may be held, where friends enlarge on their engagement, encounters with and feelings for the departed, but often the audiences for these are select and intimate and the proceedings fugitive and difficult, if not impossible of access. Festschriften are sometimes assembled as a measure of academic or intellectual achievement, but they are complex and difficult of creation: that which this journal published to honour Margaret Trask required an immense effort from Boyd Rayward and Mairead Browne, and the individual contributions of many. So there is a place for something in between the simple obituary and the density of the Festschrift. The contributions which follow take this middle way: they were inspired and organised by a long-standing friend and colleague of the late Allan Horton, Marina Garlick: the editor is grateful to her and to the authors of the individual contributions for this opportunity to reflect on Allan who was literally--in that he was always larger than life--a giant of the profession. Allan Roy Horton--a tribute