Latest news with #TheBlackWolf
CBC
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Author Louise Penny says she didn't think twice before cancelling U.S. book tour dates
Canadian novelist Louise Penny says the decision to cancel her U.S. dates for an upcoming book tour didn't take long to make. "It was immediate," Penny told The Current 's host Matt Galloway. "I just realized that when Trump brought in the 25 per cent tariffs that I … couldn't enter a country that had declared war on us." Penny first announced the decision to scrap the U.S. dates for her forthcoming book called The Black Wolf — including the launch, which was set to take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. — last week in a Facebook post. It will be the first time in 20 years, she says, that one of her tours won't include stops south of the border. "I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but given the ongoing threat of an unprovoked trade war against Canada by the U.S. president, I do not feel I can enter the United States," she wrote in part. While she says she regrets the impact it will have on American fans, travelling to the U.S. while fellow Canadians are facing "ruin" would have felt hypocritical. Penny told Galloway why she thought it was important to do her part to help Canada in the trade war, and how a plot point in her forthcoming book is now more relevant than ever. Here is part of their conversation. You wrote also last week, "So the tariffs have come in. Support for Ukraine paused. What's next? Who's next?" How do you understand this moment? Things are coming at us so quickly, it's hard to grasp, isn't it? The tariffs and then that obscene event in the Oval Office happened. And then USAID and women's rights…. It's such a parade of shame. I've been thinking about Martin Niemöller. The … Lutheran pastor in the Second World War who wrote [the poem First They Came ]. WATCH: More Canadian vacationers skipping U.S. amid trade tensions More Canadian vacationers skipping U.S. amid trade tensions 28 days ago Duration 2:02 That's what I see happening now. I don't think, Matt, there is a single country that has ever been invaded, a single people who haven't been targeted, a single individual who hasn't been rounded up, who hasn't looked back and wondered what they missed.… What moment, what window was there where this could have been stopped? There's no belief in me that my … declaring grandly that I'm not going to the States and we've cancelled the tour is going to change anything. But … I can guarantee you, if we are silent, nothing is going to change. There are people and many, many Americans who have said this is a brave stance and that they support you. And then there are people who say that they read you because they want to be taken out of the world that we're in right now, and they're not interested in political views, and they don't want to hear those political views. Well, then they can go elsewhere. I don't see this as political, really. I see this as moral. I see it as ethical, which has no boundaries. If the Biden administration had done the same thing, I would have reacted in exactly the same way. As I said in the post, this is a moral wound, and it's up to us now to stand up and do something. [The tour] will end at a very specific place, which is in many ways symbolic of that border between Canada and the United States. This is the Haskell Free Library and Opera House that's right on the border between Quebec and Vermont. Yeah, it's an extraordinary place. It was built more than 100 years ago by the two communities, the United States and Canada, as a symbol…. There's a [border] line drawn straight through the opera house and free library. [The library] is symbolic of this friendship, a really important friendship between the two nations. And I would love for Americans to come to this event, and Canadians, and do what Trump is trying to destroy and to prove that he can't. It cannot be undone, the friendship, the profound friendship between these two nations. This book is coming out in the fall, and am I getting this correct? That there is some hint of … this 51st state business? It's hard to believe, but yes. I wrote the book The Black Wolf a year ago. And in it … part of the plot [is about] what happens when a certain group decides that Canada should become the 51st state because of our resources, because of the wealth that we have in minerals and in oil and water. What happens when the nation to the south is running out of all those things, particularly water, and sees what we have? But you know, Matt, I have to say, my fear when I wrote that was, "have I gone too far? Are people going to believe this?" And now, obviously, I don't think I've gone far enough.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Canadian author Louise Penny announces U.S. boycott amid 'unprovoked trade war'
Celebrated Canadian author Louise Penny announced Friday that she will be boycotting the U.S. due to President Donald Trump's plan to put tariffs on all goods from Canada. In a statement posted to her official Facebook account, the murder mystery novelist called Trump's actions "an unprovoked trade war against Canada," and said she does not feel she can enter the U.S. "until that economic sword, that could throw hundreds of thousands of Canadians (as well as Americans) into poverty, is removed completely." Trump imposed tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico Tuesday, before walking some of them back two days later. The president is now threatening to implement tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber as early as Friday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday slammed Trump's tariffs as "a very dumb thing to do." The novelist called her decision not to travel to the U.S. "painful," adding that she has made many personal and professional friends stateside. "But…enough," she wrote. "What is happening is not just a potential economic catastrophe for Canada and so many other nations, it is a moral wound." Penny also announced that she will no longer do in-person events in the U.S., ending a 20-year stint of touring the country. The creator of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels was planning a launch event for the 20th installation of the series, "The Black Wolf," at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., but will now be hosting it in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre on Oct. 28. "Please understand this decision is not meant to punish Americans," she wrote in her statement. "This is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Canadians." The author said she hopes Americans will still attend her Canadian events, where they "will be welcomed with open arms." Penny is best known for her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, which was turned into the 2022 Amazon Prime miniseries "Three Pines." The eight-episode series featured British-American actor Alfred Molina as Gamache, a charismatic and talented inspector solving crimes in Quebec. The author also co-wrote the 2021 political mystery thriller "State of Terror" with Hillary Clinton. The book kicks off with a new U.S. president choosing a political enemy as secretary of state and avalanches into a series of terrorist attacks from political adversaries that the administration must address. A representative for Louise Penny did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This article was originally published on
NBC News
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Canadian author Louise Penny announces U.S. boycott amid 'unprovoked trade war'
Celebrated Canadian author Louise Penny announced Friday that she will be boycotting the U.S. due to President Donald Trump's plan to put tariffs on all goods from Canada. In a statement posted to her official Facebook account, the murder mystery novelist said she does not feel she can enter the U.S. "until that economic sword, that could throw hundreds of thousands of Canadians (as well as Americans) into poverty, is removed completely." "There are, of course, other things the American president is doing that make visiting the USA unpalatable," she wrote in the post. "Oh, dear. It is so painful to say that." Penny also announced that she will no longer do in-person events in the U.S., ending a 20-year stint of touring the country. The creator of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels was planning a launch event for the 20th installation of the series, "The Black Wolf," at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., but will now be hosting it in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre on Oct. 28. "Please understand this decision is not meant to punish Americans," she wrote in her statement. "This is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Canadians." The author said she hopes Americans will still attend her Canadian events, where they "will be welcomed with open arms." Penny is best known for her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, which was turned into the 2022 Amazon Prime miniseries "Three Pines." The eight-episode series featured British-American actor Alfred Molina as Gamache, a charismatic and talented inspector solving crimes in Quebec. The author also co-wrote the 2021 political mystery thriller "State of Terror" with Hillary Clinton. The book kicks off with a new U.S. president choosing a political enemy as secretary of state and avalanches into a series of terrorist attacks from political adversaries that the administration must address.
CBC
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center controversy, explained
Canadian author Louise Penny has joined the growing list of people from the arts and culture communities to cancel events or dissociate themselves from the Kennedy Center, after U.S. President Donald Trump took control of the historic Washington, D.C., institution. Penny said on Friday she would not launch the 20th instalment in her series of books featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache at the venue, as planned. "I was supposed to launch The Black Wolf at the Kennedy Center in DC, but in the wake of Trump taking over, I have pulled out," she posted on Facebook, without specifying the date that event was to take place. "It was, of course, going to be a career highlight. But there are things far more important than that." Here's a look at the current controversy surrounding the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington hosts more than 2,000 events and is the official residence of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. President Dwight Eisenhower initiated the process of establishing the centre in the late 1950s, and president Lyndon Johnson and Congress established that it would be named after the recently slain president Kennedy. Since the late 1970s, the main theatre has hosted an event in December honouring a wide range of performers, over 250 at this point, who have contributed to American culture. Recipients don't have to be born in the U.S. or even citizens; U2 was honoured in 2022. Canadians honourees have included actor Hume Cronyn, musician Joni Mitchell and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Bill Cosby is the only person ever to be stripped of the honour, which very occasionally has gone to non-individuals, including Sesame Street and the Apollo Theatre in New York City. What happened Trump last week fired Kennedy Center chair David Rubinstein, the co-founder of global investment firm the Carlyle Group and principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles. "I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture," Trump said in a social media post that featured an altered image of the president in a conductor's jacket. Rubenstein had been due to step down in January, but last year it was announced his term was being extended to late 2026, with the centre acknowledging last year that a search for a new chair "took longer than expected." He had originally been appointed to the Kennedy Centre board by former president George W. Bush. Trump announced that he would serve as chair, and in a series of moves since, the board has been remade and populated with his allies. Ric Grenell, an advisor from the first Trump administration, was named interim executive director of the centre. Are the changes unusual? Mostly, yes. "There is nothing in the center's statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center's board," the institution said in a statement last week. It's not unusual for a president to give such prestigious positions to allies at this or other posts. In fact, former secretary of state Antony Blinken and former press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had just been named to the board by Democratic president Joe Biden before he left office. They are among those who have been swept out by Trump's changes. In the past, the 36-member board has been generally split between people or appointees associated with the two main political parties. But Trump's handpicked board is almost entirely allies, donors and friends. They include his longtime adviser Dan Scavino, his current chief of staff Susie Wiles, Wiles's mother, Pamela Gross, who is a former adviser to Melania Trump, and the wives of his vice-president and his commerce secretary nominee. Elaine Chao, Trump's former labour secretary and the wife of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, is also there, a year after Trump was criticized for using racist language to describe her in a social media post. Why now? The Kennedy Center receives just over 15 per cent of its funding from the federal government, and there is a history long before Trump of some Republican politicians objecting to what they view as state-sponsored art. This is particularly the case when the art in question is provocative or controversial, such as when artist Andres Serrano in the early 1990s produced Piss Christ, a photo of a crucifix in a jar of Serrano's urine, after receiving a $20,000 US grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Trump has not been overly specific in his objections but has said the centre is "not going to be 'woke.'" "NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA," he said on social media this week. Over thousands of performances in recent years, there are a handful of shows and events that have featured performers in drag. Gender has been at the centre of a suite of executive orders Trump has signed early in his second administration. The Washington Post reported that a page previewing an upcoming presentation of A Peacock Among Pigeons from the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) which holds performances at the centre, was no longer visible. The newspaper said it couldn't confirm whether the concert, billed as a "celebration of love, diversity, and the vibrant spirit of the LGBTQ+ community," had been cancelled. As well, the creators of the Kennedy Center-produced children's musical Finn, said this week that the tour was being cancelled. The title character was described on the kennedy Center's website as "a young shark who just wants to be his true self. He loves sparkles and bright colours despite being a shark." A Kennedy Center spokesperson told in a statement that the cancellation of the tour was " a purely financial decision." Trump's 1st term It can only be speculated, but what transpired in Trump's first term could also be a factor. When Trump took office in 2017, legendary television producer Norman Lear and singer Lionel Richie debated not participating if the president attended. Lear cited what he saw as Trump's disdain for the arts and humanities, while Richie mentioned a more vague sense of constant "controversies" in the first months of the presidency. Cuba-born Gloria Estefan said she would attend, but that she hoped to engage Trump in a conversation about the value of immigrants, as Trump had by that time moved to ban asylum seekers from certain Muslim-majority countries. But Trump didn't attend. "The President and First Lady have decided not to participate in this year's activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction," then-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said from the White House. The president didn't attend the next two years, and COVID-19 scuttled the 2020 ceremony. The reaction Award-winning television producer Shonda Rhimes resigned from the board in the wake of the changes, and opera star Renée Fleming announced she was leaving her role as special adviser to the centre. Actor Issa Rae and band Low Cut Connie cancelled planned events, while pianist Ben Folds said he was stepping down as NSO artistic director. A small group of protesters registered their displeasure in the U.S. capital on Wednesday, in a demonstration that took them outside the venue, according to a report from WUSA-9, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host tried to see a silver lining while envisioning future honours for Kid Rock, a Trump supporter, as well as Big Mouth Billy Bass, the singing animatronic fish.
