Jakob Out of the Village nominated for Regina Book Award
William Driedger’s story of a Mennonite boy growing up in Saskatchewan village has been nominated for the Regina Book Award in this year’s competitions for the Saskatchewan Book Awards. In the story ‘ the precociously observant Jakob Schellenberg, middle son of a God-fearing farming family, grows increasingly aware of the outside world from the pictures in the Eaton’s catalogue, the weekly farm paper and the city folk who occasionally stop by and dazzle him with their shiny new cars, fancy clothes and perfume-scented skin. Jakob’s instinctive, exuberant response to the daily events of prairie life during the Dirty Thirties somehow holds him apart from both family and community, causing him to look further, to yearn for something more. His poignant, often humorous, coming-of-age leads him ‘out of the village’, only to discover that the village will be with him wherever he goes.’ Driedger’s book was published with the help of a grant from the Plett Foundation. The initial printing sold out quickly and a second printing has already been released.
click here for more information about the book.
Foundation Board holds its semi annual meetings in Aylmer, Ontario
Left to Right Leonard Doell, John J. Friesen, Abe Rempel, Ralph Friesen, Kennert Giesbrecht; Hans Werner, Executive Director; Royden Loewen, Board Chair
The Plett Foundation Board held its semi annual meetings in Aylmer, Ontario in early October. The Board took the opportunity to meet in Aylmer as a number of Board members and the Executive Director were participating in or attending the Mennonite History Conference at Conrad Grebel College in Waterloo on October 12th and 13th. It was a full day that included meeting leaders from the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Aylmer, a tour of their school, an interview on the local Low German radio station, De Brijg, and an evening in the local Sommerfelder Church to hear a presentation about the shootings of Amish children in Nickel Mines, Pa. last year. The Board heard a report from the Executors of the Delber Plett Estate, which noted that they had liquidated about 1/2 of the estate and transferred funds to the Foundation. The Board also considered a number of grant applications and approved its 2008 budget. Among the initiatives to be explored is the potential for creating a Mennonite History curruculum for use by conservative churches.