Posts by Ken McGoogan
Three reasons why I hate Calgary
–> I have learned to hate Calgary for three reasons. And speaking earlier tonight, at Pages on Kensington, I laid them out to an audience of book-lovers. The first is Naheed Nenshi. We were here when Calgarians elected this brilliant, charismatic leader to a second four-year term. Meanwhile, Toronto has yet to rid itself of…
Read MoreCalgary set to join ocean-to-ocean, 50 Canadians extravaganza
–> Great to see this article turn up in today’s Calgary Herald. Looks like my old home town is ready. I’ll be at Pages on Kensington Tuesday evening, at Global TV on Wednesday morning, and then at Cafe Books in Canmore that evening. By Eric Vollmers, Calgary Herald Pride is a peculiar thing. It…
Read MoreThis castle on the river is a Canadian landmark
–> Which grand railway hotel turns up on an album cover? Answer: the Delta Bessborough, a Saskatoon landmark known as The Bezz. The album is Clouds by Joni Mitchell, who grew up in this town on the South Saskatchewan River. She painted a self-portrait for the cover, and there, in the upper right-hand corner, we…
Read MoreSaskatoon Global TV: 4 minutes, 50 Canadians, and $5K can be yours
Turns out Saskatoon IS ready for me. This morning, 7:45 a.m. at Global Morning TV, host Kevin Stanfield got Our Hero talking. Cutting-edge Canada, 50 Canadians, almost 40 per cent women, Joni Mitchell of course, Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, the VIA-Rail ocean-to-ocean book-tour extravaganza, the train ride itself, the easy-to-enter contest that can win you…
Read MoreCountess of Dufferin evokes the glory days of Winnipeg
Meet the Countess of Dufferin. We did so today at the Winnipeg Railway Museum. Built in 1872, and named after the wife of the Earl of Dufferin, Canada’s third governor-general, she was the first locomotive to operate in the Canadian prairies. She arrived in Canada in 1877 and served for more than 30 years. In…
Read MoreTen thumbs up at Canada’s History
We had ten thumbs up at Canada’s History magazine. But that classic photo ended up on someone else’s camera. Here, as you can see, we registered four. Mark Reid, editor of Canada’s History, and Our Hero are signaling joy and satisfaction. Today’s the day The Book turns up in bookstores: Oct. 15 = Pub Date…
Read MoreFort Garry Hotel works contest magic for 50 Canadians
You’ve got to love the magic of Canada’s grand railway hotels. Soon after we checked into the Fort Garry here in Winnipeg, the first such hotel on our list, we discovered a fantastic contest announcement in the Globe and Mail. This year marks the 100th anniversary of this hotel, which was built in the chateau…
Read MoreNotes from an upper bunk while rocketing towards Winnipeg
–> At Hornepayne, while the train took on fresh water, we got out, strolled around, took photos of ourselves with The Canadian (21 cars) and also of the old brick train station, its boarded windows decorated with art. At Longlac, a site well-known to fur-trade voyageurs of the 18th and 19th centuries, we rocketed beneath…
Read MoreDeparture Day: Ocean-to-Ocean with 50 Canadians
Later today, Sheena and I embark on a VIA-Rail journey that will extend from ocean to ocean, Pacific to Atlantic, Toronto to Vancouver to Halifax. The above photo, shot a couple of weeks back, finds us on the east coast of Orkney with the North Sea behind us. But the North Sea adjoins the Atlantic,…
Read MoreAlice Munro, the Toronto Star, and the bookshop ghettos of Canadiana
We were moving in the same direction. Today’s lead editorial in the Toronto Star noted that “as Thomas Hardy did with Dorset, and William Faulkner did with Yoknapatawpha County, [Alice] Munro chronicled and mythologized her corner of southwestern Ontario.” In 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, coming next week, I put it this way:”When readers…
Read More