Posts by Ken McGoogan
Chasing Lemurs is The Book of the season!
For nineteen months, starting when she was twenty-five, Keriann McGoogan lived and worked in the wilds of Madagascar. She spent twelve-hour days following groups of lemurs through the northwestern dry forests. Previously, she had spent six months in Belize studying black howler monkeys. All this was in aid of earning a PhD in biological anthropology and…
Read MoreEpic Glades highlight Quebec ski spectacular
Let the record show that we brought in the New Year — and indeed the New Decade — on the slopes. Video maker Carlin McGoogan produced a hi-res version of Epic Glades complete with rollicking Quebecois music — but Blogger refused to accommodate bells and whistles. Sorry to see that Carlin himself, by-far our best skiier,…
Read MoreIrish revolutionary murdered for embracing Canadian pluralism
(In the February issue of Celtic Life International, I write about Thomas D’Arcy McGee, the Irish revolutionary who became the great Canadian champion of minorities and First Nations.) On April 7, 1868, after participating in a late-running session in the Canadian House of Commons, the most eloquent democrat ever to emerge from the Irish diaspora…
Read MoreThe Best of Celtic Life 2019
Wonderful to see this excerpt from Flight of the Highlanders turn up in The Best of Celtic Life 2019. The 100-page magazine features an array of articles on everything from Celtic Folklore to Celtic Genealogy and Celebrating Celtic Culture. FLIGHT OF THE HIGHLANDERS Chapter 3: The Old Way of Life In the Celtic tradition, “Thin…
Read MoreYo, OTTAWA! Gonna be like CHICAGO!
Yo, OTTAWA! Here comes the night! Peeps are awakening to the news that awarding-winning author and Royal Canadian Geographical Society Fellow Ken McGoogan is coming your way next Tuesday evening (December 3). It says here that in performance, Ken may well remind you of Richard Gere in CHICAGO, you know where he sings and dances and…
Read MoreDead Reckoning still sailing with Franklin
With Flight of the Highlanders roaring along nicely (thank you very much), it’s wonderful to see an Alaska publication (Stock Daily Dish) giving Dead Reckoning a bit of love – doing its part to keep the paperback edition thriving here and here and in better independent bookstores. Yesterday, the newspaper published an article in which its regular…
Read MoreHighlanders flying high as “terrific, timely”
Authors enjoy few things more than positive reviews . . . especially during the run-up to Christmas. Below, excerpts from four different takes on Flight of the Highlanders: The Making of Canada . . . Celtic Life International: Best-selling author Ken McGoogan “deep dives into the historical horror of Scottish Highlanders in this terrific and…
Read MoreThe River Battles started with an email
KEN MCGOOGAN / SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL In July, 2014, Canadian historian Mark Zuehlke received an e-mail from Italy. A history institute based in Ravenna was inviting him to give the keynote address at a conference celebrating the 70th anniversary of “the liberation of many towns in our province, Ravenna. … All the towns were…
Read MoreDescendant adds detail to a violent Clearance
It’s always great to get a glowing review. But nothing beats the kind of email I’ve just received from Carol Annett, who was born a MacKinnon. Those who have read Flight of the Highlanders will recall that Chapter One treats the violent eviction of a great number of McKinnons from Knoydart in 1853. It draws on…
Read MoreTrouble at Indigo? Bring back Canadiana!
Indigo Books and Music is having a bad year. Canada’s number one book retailer is dealing with declining sales. Compared with this time last year, sales are down roughly eight per cent. Those who want detailed figures can find them easily enough. Indigo CEO Heather Reisman points to some “promising early results on key performance measures.”…
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