Wordfest presents Adam Shoalts

Thursday, May 7 @ 7 pm $25
Memorial Park Library, 2nd Floor

Canadian Geographic named Adam Shoalts “one of our greatest living explorers.” Maclean’s describes him as “our very own bearded, millennial Indiana Jones.” Chris Hadfield cites him for his “rare insight into the heart and mind of an explorer, and the insatiable hunger for the unknown that both inspires and drives one to the edge.” Connect with Shoalts in Calgary, as we celebrate his latest bestseller, Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell. 

Shoalts’ one-hour presentation will be followed by an audience Q & A and book signing, fuelled by Owl’s Nest Books.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Author Presentation
Libations Bar, with non-alcoholic options
Audience Q&A
Book Signing

PRE-ORDER BOOKS

Owl’s Nest Books

PLACE A HOLD

Calgary Public Library

SHOW DURATION

75 minutes. No intermission

PUBLISHER

Penguin Random House Canada

Adam Shoalts

Adam Shoalts is a historian, archaeologist, geographer, and Westaway Explorer-in-
Residence at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Shoalts holds a PhD from McMaster University where his research examined the influence Indigenous oral traditions had on fur traders in the subarctic and Pacific Northwest. He is also the author of the national bestsellers Alone Against the North, A History of Canada in Ten Maps, Beyond the Trees, The Whisper on the Night Wind, and Where the Falcon Flies. He enjoys long walks in the woods.

Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell

In 1910, legendary explorer Hubert Darrell vanished in the uncharted wilderness of the Northwest Territories. A prospector who had been swept up in the Klondike Gold Rush, Darrell later made his name as a wanderer who ventured where few others dared. Famed for his solo journeys, contemporaries regarded Darrell as the hardiest explorer of his day. While his disappearance sparked headlines, soon Darrell’s name would also vanish from history, just as surely as he had in the wild.

Yet Darrell left behind a trail of letters, journals, and hand-drawn maps. With these faded clues, Adam Shoalts retraces Darrell’s forgotten routes through the wilderness, searching for cabin ruins and old campsites. Part detective story, part biography, and part first-person adventure narrative, Vanished Beyond the Map combines expeditions with historical research to solve one of exploration history’s enduring cold cases—the mystery of Hubert Darrell.

 

  • Voted by over 200 Independent Bookstores as one of the “Must Read Books” of the Year (Canadian Independent Booksellers Association)
  • Named “One of Best Books of the Year” by Indigo/Chapters/Coles
  • Globe and Mail #1 National Bestseller/Toronto Star #1 National Bestseller
  • CBC #1 National Bestseller
  • Named “One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year” by Indigo/Chapters/Coles
  • Named by CBC to their Recommended Fall Reads List

WHAT TO EXPECT

Author Presentation
Libations Bar, with non-alcoholic options
Audience Q&A
Book Signing

PRE-ORDER BOOKS

Owl’s Nest Books

PLACE A HOLD

Calgary Public Library

SHOW DURATION

75 minutes. No intermission

PUBLISHER

Penguin Random House Canada

Be Curiouser

WATCH:

READ:

  • Adam Shoalts, Westaway Explorer-in-Residence. –Canadian Geographic
  • Canada’s Indiana Jones: Adam Shoalts, bestselling author and modern-day explorer, takes “touching grass” to another level. –Macleans.ca

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