In Frank Peebles' article "Budde in running for BC Book Prize," Prof. Budde states that Prince George " is becoming its own subject of art, in that local people are giving it local representation."
Budde goes on to say, "I've noticed Prince George being erased by a lot of its artists in previous times but now I see a lot of thinking on this place coming through."
It's often difficult to decipher what Prof. Budde is getting at, but this is particularly so. Is Prince George just now becoming subject matter for local literature as Prof. Budde implies? I don't know who he has in mind regarding this claim of "erasure" - but several writers with national and international presence and recognition come to mind who have created an important body of literature that has mapped and measured Prince George in its full range of particularity and complexity.
As a literary scholar, shouldn't he also be aware of the hundreds of local publications since 1969 via Caledonia Writing Series, Gorse Press, Repository Press, the chapbooks published by college and university students, and the many trade publishers who believe writers in this local are of interest beyond the city limits? Perhaps Prof. Budde believes that only certain people and their voices should be publicly visible, and only correct ideas should be heard.
Prince George has been on Canada's literary landscape for a long time and in profoundly particular ways. It is there because of the efforts of its writers, past and present.
Barry McKinnon
Prince George
