Honorary Degree Recipient: Louise Penny

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Doctor of Letters | Presented on June 13, 9:30 a.m. by Anne Lukin

Chancellor Mercier, President MacLatchy, faculty, graduates, and guests,

Louise Penny is a Canadian writer, the author of 19 novels; New York Times best-sellers published in 31 languages, with more than 10 million copies sold in North America alone. A former radio host and journalist with CBC, over the past two decades Louise has produced a series of crime novels set in a mythical village in the Eastern Townships, near Montreal.

Louise has won numerous international accolades including nine Agatha Awards and a Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Award, among many others. She is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order National du Quebec. In her novels, Louise promotes human goodness as an antidote to evil. In real life, she champions literacy efforts, supports new writers and started a foundation to support dementia care in Canada. A lover of dogs, she is the spokesperson for Golden Rescue, a charity that helps abandoned retrievers.

I met Louise one time many years ago, at the Elora Writer’s Festival, when her second book came out. She encouraged me to pursue my own writing and I have followed her career and loved her books ever since. Louise’s writing has brought her immense success and recognition, yet she remains the kind of author you can picture sharing a meal or chatting over coffee with – her warmth and wit make the idea feel within reach.

As a writer, she is clever, funny and thoughtful. Her novels’ setting in the village of Three Pines is one of those compelling fictional locales that makes readers want to move there immediately. As the Three Pines series has evolved, the plots have grown increasingly complex, with larger societal issues woven in. Substance abuse, corruption, greed and climate change contribute darker threads to the tapestry but she always brings these issues back to personal consequences and motivations, and ultimately to personal choice.

Fictional characters like Tolkien’s Frodo, or Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, are so well drawn that they transition from imagination to hold permanent real estate in readers’ hearts and minds. Similarly, at the heart of each of Louise’s books are a cast of recurring characters that make the world of Three Pines so appealing. Human, flawed, but also amusing, warm, irreverent and brave. I have to remind myself they are fictional. I’d like to invite them to dinner, too.

Her main character, Armand Gamache, is the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, a principled man in a difficult and high-stakes job. One of the many lessons Armand teaches his team is that of the four most difficult statements: “I was wrong. I’m sorry. I don’t know. I need help.” The four deceptively simple statements that lead to wisdom.

In her books, her characters and in her life, Louise reflects courage, intelligence, generosity and decency. Danger, fear and hatred are met, in the end, with wit, grace and kindness. It is these qualities that make me sure that Louise is a great fit with Laurier, and I hope you will join me in welcoming her to the Laurier family.

Madam Chancellor, I am instructed by the Senate of the university to request you to admit to the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Louise Penny.