Joy Kogawa named to...
Order of BC today!
May 18, 2006
13 People to Receive Order of British Columbia
VICTORIA – Recipients of the Order of British Columbia for 2006 were announced today by Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo. Her Honour praised the recipients as outstanding citizens of B.C. who have contributed to strengthening the province in a variety of exceptional ways.
Full news release and Backgrounder.
Joy recently e-mailed to me about recieving the award:
I've never received so much attention in my life before.
It's got to the point now that one miracle after another after another just keeps on flowing. I don't know how this blessed life has happened.
Joy recently wrote about what saving Kogawa House means to her:
What the house means to me -- these days it's a sense of miracle that surrounds me.
The fact of The Land Conservancy coming along and taking this on, the fact that it just happened to be that Naomi's Road was made into an opera at this time, that Vancouver Public Library chose Obasan as the One Book for Vancouver--these were miracles enough, without it all happening at this particular time.
And the amazing miracle of the particular people who were drawn to the work of saving the house -- Anton Wagner, Ann-Marie Metten, Todd Wong. So the house and the cherry tree and all these happenings and people are signs of miracles and fill me with hope.
When we look at the uncaring in our planet, here is evidence that relationships can be rehabilitated, the formerly despised can be embraced. The dream that writers who are presently among the despised of the world, can come and write their stories here, fills me with even more hope.
Racism is a present tragedy in the world, as it has been in the past. Here is one small way that we can say in Canada, that racism can be overcome.