Fatal Passage Turns 25 Years Old
An Open Letter to Explorer John Rae Dear Doctor Rae: Would you believe that Fatal Passage is now twenty-five years old? I write from the future to remind you that the book appeared in 2001, bringing your extraordinary life and times into the 21st century. You may recall that I met your ghost in 1998,…
Read MoreWorkshop razzle-dazzle set for autumn
Catch me if you can: Sept. 3: Picton Public Library: Purdy and the Arctic Sept. 10: Picton Public Library: Purdy and the Yankees Sept. 19: Eden Mills Writers’ Festival: Writing into a Revolution Oct. 29: Cobourg: Northumberland Learning: Arctic Awakening Nov. 6: Creative NonFiction Collective: Writing into a Revolution
Read MoreTwo-Book Deal! Seven-Figure Advance!
So we’re talking a two-book deal with a seven-figure advance. My agent, John Pearce of Westwood Creative, has landed the offer. The publisher is preparing the contract. But perhaps I should clarify that advance. Two of those seven figures are to the right of the decimal. Details, right? The first of the two books will…
Read MoreLet’s build a Canadian Publishing Pipeline
Dear Mark Carney. I wonder if the Major Projects Office might be open to building a new Canadian Publishing Pipeline to bring our books to readers around the world. People smarter than me will have to work out detailed formulas. But basically, the idea is to get publishers and writers pulling together. We all…
Read MoreA writer friend made me do it, honest!
Parks Canada should revive Battlefield site
Today in the Globe and Mail, Page O8. Ken McGoogan is writing a book whose working title is The Yanks Are Coming: A Neverending Story of Invasions, Shakedowns, and Canadian Resistance. In late October, Parks Canada announced 11 “new designations of national historic significance” across the country. These included persons, places and events, among them…
Read MoreArctic Focus chases me through History
Ken McGoogan and the Quest for Arctic Truths By Melody Wren / October 30, 2025 (Note from Ken: I rarely publish pieces here by other writers. But I like this one well enough to try to preserve it. To see the original in Arctic Focus, an online magazine published by the Arctic Research Foundation, and…
Read MoreDafoe Book Prize finalist? Best. Q&A. Ever.
October 1, 2025 by Ariel Gordon Q&A with Ken McGoogan, author of Shadows of Tyranny What was your goal while writing this book?One early title for this book was Awakening to Invasion: A Resistance Narrative Ranging from Hitler and Stalin to Donald J. Trump. You can see why we toned it down. It does have the virtue of…
Read MoreSHIPWRECKED IN AFRICA!
Otherwise known as Going Down in History, a panel discussion featuring moi and Eve Lazarus in Moose Jaw at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words. Orchestrated by impresario Amanda Farnel, the whole interaction is fabulous. It encompasses polar bears, a crash course in the virtues of CNF, and the sinking of the Empress of Ireland. But…
Read MoreCanada Day arrives early at The Toronto Star
The most Canadian journey ever undertaken? While the United States threatens once again to subsume us, Canadians have embraced a new nationalism. But beyond the cliches about politeness and maple syrup, what is this Canadianness we seek to preserve? We asked six of our compatriots to pick a story from our country’s past — a…
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