Posts by Ken McGoogan
This writing instructor has no shame!
In the beginning, I had doubts about teaching online. In a classroom situation, I could rely on my good looks, augmented by one-liners. Working online meant losing these resources. But, hey, good news! Judging from the latest report card, online is working wonderfully. Out of seventeen categories in this latest report card, sixteen were straight…
Read MoreRobbie Burns Bash Looms!
Thanks to How the Scots Invented Canada, we had a pretty good run, Sheena Fraser McGoogan and I, with bagpipers piping us into one event or another. Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal . . . who knew the Scots were so keen to party? They’re at it again, and us along with them, on Jan. 23,…
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The Art of Fact: An Introduction to Writing Non-Fiction ONLINE COURSE!!! For those who have registered, the syllabus has gone up. Instructor: Ken McGoogan / University of Toronto / School of Continuing Studies Ten weeks starting Jan. 21, 2013 The hallmarks of Creative, Literary or Narrative Nonfiction are truth and personal presence. The genre includes…
Read MoreFirst we took Manhattan . . .
What a time we had in New York City! I gave my keynote on Return to Rae Strait and surprised even Matthew Swan with some of my revelations. I don’t think he realized that, with Louie Kamookak, I visited Rae Strait in the High Arctic for the first time back in 1999. We erected a…
Read MoreNew Jersey ten, UPS zero
Lots of nice people live in New Jersey. We got to know quite a few of them while we stood in line for two hours outside the UPS office. There was the woman who, after she learned that we were Canadians, and also that we had a cab waiting, insisted that we should move to…
Read MoreAnglo-a-no-no: Enough, already!
From Canada’s History magazine By Ken McGoogan The “Anglos” made headlines again this autumn. The Quebec election made it inevitable: how would the “Anglos” vote? Could the “Anglos” make a difference? As it turns out, the answer was a qualified yes: the separatist Parti Quebecois was held to a minority victory. Meanwhile, I found myself…
Read MoreSaturday Night at the Explorers Club in New York City
That is when the climactic event happens, Dec. 1: yours truly giving a talk called Return to Rae Strait. It draws on my book Fatal Passage. I’ll talk about explorer John Rae and visiting Rae Strait, where he built a cairn marking his discovery of the final link in the Northwest Passage. After my talk…
Read MoreRoald Amundsen: The Last Viking . . .
In the Globe and Mail of Nov. 17, our hero reviews the new biography of Roald Amundsen, called The Last Viking. Author: Stephen Bown. Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre . . . By Ken McGooogan In 1905, when he was preparing to sail out of Gjoa Haven in Canada’s High Arctic, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen buried…
Read MoreTime for a Confederation of Canadian Writers?
What we need here in Canada is a Confederation of Canadian Writers.This is not my idea, but I like it. Merilyn Simonds, chair of the The Writers’ Union of Canada, has been marking TWUC’s 40th anniversary by meeting union members across the country. In Toronto the other night, she mentioned that Calgary authors have voiced…
Read MoreOur Hero brings John Rae to Explorers’ Club
Our Hero is looking forward to giving a talk called Return to Rae Strait at the Explorers’ Club in New York City. It happens Saturday evening, December 1, as part of the club’s inaugural Polar Film Festival. This past August, for the first time in 13 years, Ken revisited the site where he erected a…
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