Posts by Ken McGoogan
IFOA: Here come the Scots!
Meanwhile, here in the Big Smoke, the International Festival of Authors has a Writing Scotland theme happening. The National Post is running a Q&A with some of the participating authors, our hero among them. . . . This year, the International Festival of Authors has joined forces with the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the…
Read MoreNo rest for the wicked
Back from sailing in the Northwest Passage, our hero shifts into high gear. . . . Monday, Oct. 19, 1 p.m., lectures at LIFE in Association with Ryerson University on the history and geography of the Arctic. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m., reads and entertains in The EH List Author Series at the Toronto Public…
Read MoreBeechey Island Blues
Our hero frets about the Arctic in today’s Globe. . . By Ken McGoogan The late Pierre Berton liked to describe how in 1853, when Arctic explorer Leopold McClintock was searching for the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin and travelling across spongy, summer-time tundra, he chanced upon cart tracks so fresh that he thought…
Read MoreRace to the Polar Sea Wins Honourable Mention
My book Race to the Polar Sea, which is now surfacing in paperback from HarperCollins Canada, has won Honourable Mention in the Keith Matthews Award competition sponsored by the Canadian Nautical Research Society. The annual award recognizes the best book on a maritime topic. The judges described the work, which tells the story of Arctic…
Read MoreJust say yes to naked books!
In the Globe and Mail Book Section, I rebut a rebuttal: can we stop obsessing, please, about what makes a Canadian author Canadian and focus our attention on individual books? By Ken McGoogan Last updated on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009 04:09AM EDT If we look at literature from a national perspective, as distinct from taking…
Read MoreWhat? Almost autumn already?
This autumn, according to Savvy Reader, Our Hero will spend sixteen days sailing in the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. Afterwards, he’ll wax eloquent about that voyage in two different cities while showcasing his book Race to the Polar Sea. On October 21, as part of The Eh List Author Series, Ken will speak at…
Read MoreCanLit lives! Analyze books, not authors. . .
Our Hero turns up in Globe and Mail Books (Aug. 8/09) arguing that when we think about Canadian literature, we should analyze books, not authors. The electronic version at the other end of the link comes complete with a little known photo of Malcolm Lowry . . . By Ken McGoogan The literary mavens are…
Read MoreCreative Non-fiction Workshop
Back by popular demand: my Creative Non-fiction workshop at University of Toronto. What the heck is CNF, anyway? We hear the term applied to all kinds of writing. How does Creative Non-fiction differ from journalism? From academic writing? From short stories and novels? Is it okay to mix and match? Why does Our Hero prefer…
Read MoreThe Last Voyage of Henry Hudson
So here’s a review that turned up in the Globe on July 11. FATAL JOURNEY:The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson By Peter C. Mancall (Basic Books, 288 pages, $31) By Ken McGoogan Four centuries ago next year, on April 17, 1610, Henry Hudson sailed out of London on a small wooden ship called Discovery. A…
Read MoreAh, so! A reviewer of taste and intelligence
The book is written by Peter Mancall. But the significant bit in the Winnipeg Free Press review turns up in the third sentence, when Ian Stewart writes: “From the point of view of this armchair voyager, Mancall ranks with the finest contemporary Canadian writers in Arctic and Western Canadian exploration history, Ken McGoogan, D’Arcy Jennish…
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