Posts by Ken McGoogan
Would you believe The Great Sixties Novel?
Talk about resolutely unfashionable. Imagine a writer born in 1969 setting out to produce a 571-page novel set almost exclusively in the Psychedelic Sixties, in the years immediately preceding his birth. Britain’s David Mitchell is the anti-fashionista in question. And the only thing that can be said in his defense is that Utopia Avenue is…
Read MoreNow they’re coming for Leonard Cohen
A Facebook friend who teaches at university recently received a cancel-culture email after he included Leonard Cohen in a syllabus. Yup. He spared us several “marvelous rhetorical peaks” but quoted the conclusion, which urged him to “please re-evaluate your life choices before spreading these opinions in the name of education.” When I read this, I…
Read MoreCeltic Canada goes international
Gearing up to give a presentation at the Scottish North American Community Conference in New York City. It’s all zooming . . . but it features some heavyweight speakers and on December 5, I aim to give a dazzling presentation on The Making of Celtic Canada. Word on the street is that speakers will…
Read MorePeter Mansbridge says hey to Dead Reckoning
“I’m just finishing Ken McGoogan’s recent work, Dead Reckoning. It may well be the 20th book I’ve read about Arctic exploration, and you’d think the ground of those who tried to find a Northwest Passage has been well trodden with nothing left to say. Wrongo, buckwheat! There’s always more, especially when you can write like McGoogan. The…
Read MorePaperback edition saves 40%
Author copies! Hats off to HarperCollins Canada for making this paperback edition a reality despite the COVID logjam. The hardcover did so well at $33 that they produced this trade paperback, suddenly available in better bookstores and online for $20. And bonus: the back cover carries some wonderful quick hits from reviewers. You can…
Read MoreScotland awake to celebrating John Rae
By Mike Merritt (The Herald / Scotland) OVERLOOKING the sea, with views of neighbouring islands, it is enough to inspire a spirit of adventure in any youngster. Now the childhood Orkney home which helped to inspire the man described as the greatest Arctic explorer of his age is set to undergo a multimillion pound restoration…
Read MoreScottish Trilogy Still Marching in Canada
So a friend who lives in Hants County, Nova Scotia — the county in which my mother was born and raised — sent me a link to a podcast I have never heard, but which finds me talking about How the Scots Invented Canada. For sure that’s something people want to hear, right? Voila: click…
Read MoreChasing Lemurs dazzles early readers
For nineteen months, while in her mid-twenties, Keriann McGoogan lived and worked in Madagascar, spending twelve-hour days following groups of lemurs through the northwestern dry forests. She was leading a research team of Malagasy men, only one of whom spoke English or French. What could possibly go wrong? In her forthcoming book, Chasing Lemurs, McGoogan brings…
Read MoreF*cking with Narrative in T.O.?
Sounds dangerously radical, I know. But that, I’m afraid, is today’s burning question. It surfaces here because a fabulous writers’ conference is coming to Toronto and I play a small part in it. The annual gathering of the Creative Nonfiction Collective will take place at the University of Toronto (Emmanuel College) from May 8 to 10. Born…
Read MoreFatal Passage still working magic
Big shoutout to the John Rae Society and the editors who put together the latest Aglooka Advisor (Winter 2019). The editors asked people who take out membership in the Society why they decided to join. Two recent members replied and both mentioned the first of my five books on Arctic exploration. Neil Ferguson noted: “A…
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