A long-standing local musician and storyteller will be honoured by the Prince George Public Library next month.
Clarence Boudreau will celebrate his 93rd birthday with the 2024 Jeanne Clarke Local History Service Award.
Boudreau has written multiple books on the region’s history and was nominated for a Jeanne Clarke Publication Award last year for I Hear the Mountains Calling, his memoir.
It was not his first nomination, Boudreau and his wife Olga won the Publication Award in 1996 for their book A Penny for your Thoughts.
He spent the first 80 years of his life in Penny, a village 120km East of Prince George.
Boudreau is also a musician who goes by the name Penny Slim, he posts himself performing on Facebook. His most recent video has been shared nearly 2000 times and has over 250,000 views.
According to the library, the Service Award “recognizes outstanding contributions by an individual or group in the area of local history.”
The nominees for the Publication Award, given to non-fiction,
biographies, historical fiction, or other works that ” improve the appreciation and understanding of local history,” have also been announced.
They are:
• Artist’s sketches : a history of the forest industry in Prince George and area by Larry Merritt
• Berries, baseball & baskets : collection of memories by Shirley May Gratton
• Kechika chronicler : William Freer’s Northern BC and Yukon diaries, 1942-1978 edited by Jay Sherwood
• Prince George history : an artist’s view by Larry Merritt
• Talking to the story keepers : tales from the Chilcotin Plateau by Sage Birchwater
• The notorious Georges : crime and community in British Columbia’s northern interior, 1905–25 by Jonathan Swainger
• The secret pocket by Peggy Janicki and illustrated by Carrielynn Victor
• This place is who we are : stories of Indigenous leadership, resilience, and connection to their homelands by Katherine Palmer Gordon
The two awards will be presented at the library’s downtown branch on February 25th from 1:00 – 3:00.
Anyone wishing to attend is being asked to email [email protected] by February 16th to reserve a seat.
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