Happy Canada Day . . . en francais aussi!
One of the great things about VIA Rail’s Destinations magazine is that it speaks both official languages. In French, the “extrait exclusif” included in the July-August issue (see previous post) begins as follows . . . POUR ECRIRE 50 CANADIANS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD (A PARAITRE CET AUTOMNE), LE CELEBRE AUTEUR CANADIEN KEN MCGOOGAN A…
Read MoreMichaelle Jean leads 50 Canadians across Canada
50 Canadians Who Changed the World. My new book will not turn up in bookstores until autumn. But you can read an excerpt in the July-August issue of VIA Rail’s Destinations magazine. You guessed it: the excerpt focuses on Michaelle Jean. Even if you are NOT exploring the country by train, you can get a…
Read MoreOur Hero Meets JFK in Ireland
So the big celebration happened: the 50th anniversary of JFK’s 1963 visit to Ireland. They gave it a day-long street party in New Ross, County Wexford. Several members of te Kennedy clan were there. And the Irish prime minister. Not to forget Michael Flatley, the Lord of Dance, and folk singer Judy Collins. You can…
Read MoreWould you take a writing workshop with this man?
In case you missed yesterday’s Globe and Mail, where this slightly doctored photo turned up in the Books Section, Our Hero will soon teach Narrative Non-Fiction at the University of Toronto Summer Writing School. It’s an intensive, one-week, multi-genre program that runs this year July 15 to 19. Other instructors include Dennis Bock, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer,…
Read MoreWriters’ Union of Canada moves to admit self-published authors
Hats off to Merilyn Simonds! She not only runs an amazing meeting. But, with the help of Ottawa writer Eric Enno Tamm, she has pointed the way to a renaissance for The Writers’ Union of Canada. In response to revolutionary changes in the publishing landscape, TWUC members at their 40th AGM voted unanimously to admit…
Read MoreHear ye! Hear ye! Modest contest announced
Around our house, the most anticipated book of the year is 50 Canadians Who Changed the World. HarperCollins Canada will publish it in October. The author? Mais, c’est moi! The jacket copy promises an “astonishing array of activists, humanitarians, musicians and writers, comedians, visionaries, scientists, and inventors, all of whom are transformative figures who have…
Read MoreOur Hero brings John Rae back to Calgary
In 1999, when he was working as books editor at the Calgary Herald, Our Hero traveled to the Arctic with a fellow Calgarian to erect a plaque at the spot where explorer John Rae discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage. He told that story in his award-winning book Fatal Passage, which became an…
Read MoreJohn Rae lives!
As you can see from this poster, an international conference on Arctic explorer John Rae is happening in Orkney this September. Rae solved the riddle of the lost 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin, and also discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage. Yes, I will be in Stromness during the conference, serving as…
Read MoreJohn Rae for St. Giles Cathedral?
Scottish Explorer John Rae ‘should be honoured’ By SHAN ROSS The Scotsman Published on Saturday 20 April 2013 A CANADIAN historian is calling on the Scottish Government to commemorate controversial Arctic explorer John Rae by erecting a statue of him in Edinburgh’s St Giles Cathedral. Award-winning Ken McGoogan, who will give a talk on Orkney-born…
Read More50 Canadians Who Changed the World
So this is what it looks like, the most anticipated book of the year . . . at least around our house. Early on, I decided to make things harder for myself rather than easier — and also more fun. I decided to include only those Canadians born after 1900. End result, more than two…
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