What you see here, from as close as you are likely to get, is a gorgeous bottle of Highland Park single malt scotch whisky. It comes from a limited edition of 30 bottles created to mark the bicentenary of the birth of John Rae. The Scottish Orcadian explorer was born 200 years ago today. After he died in London in 1893, his Canadian wife, Katherine Rae, brought him home to be buried in Kirkwall, Orkney. This afternoon, I said a few words at his grave behind St. Magnus Cathedral. Actually, I read the last page of Fatal Passage, and a member of the John Rae Society presented me with this. That's how we roll, here in Orkney. And Sheena caught the joyful occasion on camera.
Before turning mainly to books about arctic exploration and Canadian history, Ken McGoogan worked for two decades as a journalist at major dailies in Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal. He teaches creative nonfiction writing through the University of Toronto and in the MFA program at King’s College in Halifax. Ken served as chair of the Public Lending Right Commission, has written recently for Canada’s History, Canadian Geographic, and Maclean’s, and sails with Adventure Canada as a resource historian. Based in Toronto, he has given talks and presentations across Canada, from Dawson City to Dartmouth, and in places as different as Edinburgh, Melbourne, and Hobart.
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