Award-winning author Louise Penny first saw her local library on the news when U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Krisi Noem was at the historic building, referring to Canada as the 51st state repeatedly.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the Canada-U.S. border, between Quebec and Vermont, and Noem stepped over the line in the library multiple times.
“That alone was so childish that you had to laugh,” she told CTV News from her home in Knowlton, Que. “And then this happened.”
The “this” Penny is referring to is the U.S. government’s decision to close access to the Canadian side of the library, allowing library members with cards to enter on the U.S. side and those without to head to the official port of entry.
“This was scary,” she said. “It felt like a real shot across the bow and if we don’t get it now, I’m not sure what the signal used to be.”
Penny was one of the over 300 people who donated to the library’s GoFundMe campaign, which has blown past the $100,000 goal to build a new Canadian entrance.
As of Wednesday, more than $160,000 has been raised, and library board president Sylvie Boudreau said on Tuesday that tens of thousands of dollars have also been donated in other fashions.
Penny feels that the American government targeting a historic library built in 1904, and making it a part of its border politics, was a chilling act.
“I don’t want to exaggerate, but I think part of what alerted people was really what is the first thing that tyrants go after? It’s libraries, it’s books, it’s people who might have a dissenting voice,” said Penny. “This smelled a little bit like that and it’s a line that should not be crossed.”
The No. 1 New York Times best-selling author said earlier in March that, for the first time in two decades, she would not be doing any in-person events in the U.S. to promote her newest book, “The Black Wolf.” She is one of several authors who have cancelled events south of the border.
“Please understand this decision is not meant to punish Americans,” she said in a post. “This is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Canadians.”
Rather than launch the 20th installment of the Chief Inspector Gamache novels in Washington, D.C., Penny will host an event in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre on Oct. 28.
She will end her Canadian tour at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House.
Seeing the support for the library and the outcry against the government’s actions, on both sides of the border, has been emotional.
“It almost brings tears to your eyes,” said Penny.
“This is what it should be and this is what it has been… They’re [the U.S. government] solving a problem that doesn’t exist and, in the process, creating a problem except what I love about what’s happened is that we’ve refused to make it a problem.”
Boudreau said they hope to have the renovations done and a new entrance built during the summer.
“The solution that the Haskell has come up with: partly protesting, which needs to be done; partly appealing to the greater public, which has been done; but the physical solution is so elegant: just put a hole in the wall.”
