Ken McGoogan

Ken McGoogan

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Ken McGoogan is the award-winning author of a dozen books, four of them bestsellers about Arctic exploration. McGoogan worked as a journalist for two decades, moving from the Toronto Star to the Montreal Star and the Calgary Herald, as books editor and columnist. He has served as chair of the Public Lending Right Commission and is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He teaches narrative non-fiction at the University of Toronto and in the MFA program at University of King’s College in Halifax. Every summer, he voyages in the Northwest Passage as a resource historian with Adventure Canada.

Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning challenges the conventional narrative of Arctic exploration, which emerged out of Victorian England and focused almost exclusively on Royal Navy officers. By integrating non-British and fur-trade explorers and, above all, Canada’s indigenous peoples, this work brings the story of Arctic discovery into the twenty-first century. Orthodox history celebrates such naval figures as John Franklin, Edward Parry, and James Clark Ross. Dead Reckoning tells their stories, but the book also encompasses such forgotten heroes as Thanadelthur, Akaitcho, Tattanoeuck, Ouligbuck, Tookoolito and Ebierbing, to name just a few. Without the assistance of the Inuit, Franklin’s recently discovered ships, Erebus and Terror, would still be lying undiscovered at the bottom of the polar sea. Informed by the author’s own voyages and researches in the Arctic, and illustrated throughout, Dead Reckoning is a colourful, multidimensional saga that demolishes myths, exposes pretenders. and celebrates unsung heroes.

Events & Tickets

Sat, Oct. 14 @ 1pm: Northern Adventures

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Sun, Oct. 15 @ 11:45am: Tasty Bites: Wayne Johnston & Ken McGoogan
(Tickets At the Door Only)

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