The Devil made me jive with Margaret Atwood

The Devil made me do it. I knew it was wrong. I knew I had no business inviting an iconic Canadian writer out onto the dance floor. I knew people would hate me for it. Who did I think I was? But a little voice told me to go ahead and ask her to dance.…

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Frozen Dreams bring Dead Reckoning to T.O.

OK, so the photo is from Back in the Day. August 1999, to be precise. That would be me on King William Island as taken by the late Louie Kamookak. We were atop Mount Matheson on King William Island. Behind me: Rae Strait. I’ll probably mention this adventure when I give an illustrated talk called FROZEN…

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Lovely paperback edition lists under $20

The paperback is here! A single author’s copy anyway, with countless others flowing into bookstores next week. Hats off to the folks at HarperCollins Canada! What a lovely package! This edition is slightly smaller than the hardcover . . . the perfect size!And it contains new and improved maps! And here on the back cover, a reviewer…

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Louie Kamookak discovers John Rae’s cairn

The late Louie Kamookak has rightly been celebrated as a searcher for John Franklin. But more significantly, in my view, Louie was the man who discovered the cairn that explorer John Rae built in 1854, marking the final link in what would prove to be the first navigable Northwest Passage. I touched on that in…

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Dead Reckoning makes Dafoe Prize shortlist

Wonderful to wake up in Melrose, Scotland, to discover that the shortlist for the 2018 John W. Dafoe Book Prize includes Dead Reckoning: The Untold Story of the Northwest Passage.  The $10K book prize memorializes John Wesley Dafoe, one of the most significant Canadian editors of the 20th century. It celebrates non-fiction excellence about Canada, Canadians,…

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Remembering Louie Kamookak (1959-2018)

The official obituaries I will leave to others. I feel driven to remember Louie Kamookak as my friend. Louie is well-known now as the foremost 21st-century champion of Inuit oral history – that history which, in 2014, led searchers to discover John Franklin’s long-lost flagship, HMS Erebus. For decades, Louie dedicated time and energy to…

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Bringing John Rae to Robert Burns Country

Next week will find me giving talks in Robert Burns Country. I mentioned previously that, thanks to a new “friendship bridge” extending between the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, I have fallen heir to a whirlwind, four-day speaking tour. Now, in response to popular demand, I can provide details. My illustrated…

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View from Alaska highlights indigenous contribution to Arctic discovery

DAVID JAMES (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner) Feb. 25, 2018 FAIRBANKS — For Arctic history enthusiasts, there’s never been a more exciting time. The recent findings of the two lost vessels of the Franklin Expedition, last seen sailing from Greenland in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage, made global news. Meanwhile, historians have been producing an…

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Dead Reckoning tracks Northwest Passage through Oakville

Faithful readers (hi, Mom!) will find the above photo vaguely familiar. That’s because a flipped version turns up on the cover of Dead Reckoning: The Untold Story of the Northwest Passage. It says here that the book’s author is heading for Oakville, and is not to be missed. More precisely, Our Ken will be presenting to the…

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