Posts by Ken McGoogan
Online writing through the New York Times
Anyone looking for an online writing course might want to check out The New York Times Knowledge Network, which is offering The Art of Fact: An Introduction to Writing Nonfiction: January 23 – March 30, 2012 Instructor: Ken McGoogan The hallmarks of Creative, Literary or Narrative Nonfiction are truth and personal presence. The genre includes…
Read MoreScotland’s First Minister proves a discerning reader
Rumour has it that Alex Salmond, an aficionado of the poetry of Robbie Burns, knows a good book when he sees one. As Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, he has provided this appreciation of Our Hero’s latest book: “In ‘How the Scots Invented Canada’, Ken McGoogan has delivered a celebration…
Read MoreOur Hero reviews the winner of the Weston Prize
And the winner of the inaugural Writers’ Trust Hilary Weston Prize for nonfiction, which is worth $10K more than the Giller, is . . . Charles Foran! The winning book: Mordecai:The Life & Times. Our Hero reviewed the tome in the National Post in October 2010. Yes, this is it, the definitive biography of Mordecai…
Read MoreVoyage around Scotland means sailing through history
By Ken McGoogan Special to the Globe and Mail So this was Calum Mor’s House, the oldest dwelling on the Scottish island of Hirta. According to legend, young Calum had built it in a single day to prove his worth: He had been passed over for the annual fowling expedition to Borera, a smaller island…
Read MoreTime travel . . . around Scotland and through Canada’s History
“Last June, during a voyage around Scotland,” the piece begins, “a history-buff friend told me about attending a talk by an academic historian who had written a book featuring a section on the 1758 siege of the Fortress of Louisbourg. My friend noted, with some dismay, that the professional seemed to take pride in the…
Read MoreJohn Rae gains recognition in London
John Rae has a gained a plaque in London, England. Friends of the Scottish-Orcadian explorer, who lived in that city from 1869 to 1893, recently mounted an historical plaque on the wall of his long-time home in Addison Gardens. I visited that site while researching Fatal Passage, and I remember feeling outraged that Rae —…
Read MoreRobbie Burns returns to New Brunswick
Great news out of New Brunswick. The Scots in those parts are set to unveil a gloriously refurbished Robbie Burns Statue on September 10. Guests will include J.K. and Jean Irving and the lieutenant-governor of the province. There will be a reception and a dinner. There will be singing and sundry pipe bands. Would you…
Read MoreCoetzee meets Auster in Kingston, Ontario . . .
J.M. Coetzee meets Paul Auster at the Kingston WritersFest. Wowsers! When a two-time Booker Prize winner originally from South Africa chats on stage with an eminent American fabulist, well, you know have a capital-E Event. Make that an all-caps occasion: an EVENT. This “international marquee” extravaganza kicks off the Kingston festival on September 24. And…
Read MoreMount McGoogan Conquered!!!
The deed is done, the mission accomplished. Mount McGoogan is conquered. The date: June 15, 2011. Those who have read How the Scots Invented Canada will know that my last expedition was thwarted by my Canadian deference to a sign warning that unauthorized persons should proceed no farther. Yes, I attempted a different route and…
Read MoreBirthday poem sparks controversy at Writers’ Union AGM
Controversy erupted Saturday at the annual general meeting of The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) when members were urged to seek the attention of book clubs and reading groups with a bad poem. The motion that sparked a spirited debate was the second of two involving Canada’s Public Lending Right Program (PLR), which reimburses authors…
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