Ken McGoogan is the Canadian author of eight books, including four biographies focusing on northern exploration and published internationally: Fatal Passage (John Rae), Ancient Mariner (Samuel Hearne), Lady Franklin's Revenge (Jane Franklin), and Race to the Polar Sea (Elisha Kent Kane).
Born in Montreal (1947) and raised in a francophone town, McGoogan has traveled widely, both in Canada and abroad. After attending Sir George Williams University, he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism at Ryerson and a master's degree in creative writing at the University of British Columbia.
For two decades, while producing three novels, McGoogan earned his living as a journalist and literary editor, working at The Toronto Star, The Montreal Star, and The Calgary Herald. He has since served as a writer-in-residence at Toronto Public Library, and in Fredericton, Dawson City, and Hobart, Tasmania. For the Writers' Union of Canada, he has conducted professional development workshops from Atlantic Canada to the Yukon, and he currently teaches writing at University of Toronto (Continuing Studies).
McGoogan, has won the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, the Canadian Authors' Association History Award, the Grant MacEwan Author's Award, a University of Cambridge fellowship, an American Christopher Award, the 2006 Pierre Berton Award (for a body of work, and the University of British Columbia medal for Canadian biography (Lady Franklin's Revenge).
Race to the Polar Sea: The Heroic Adventures of Elisha Kent Kane
Lady Franklin's Revenge: A True Story of Ambition, Obsession and the Remaking of Arctic History. 2005.
Ancient Mariner: The Amazing Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Walked to the Arctic Ocean. 2003.
Fatal Passage: The Untold Story of John Rae, the Arctic Adventurer Who Discovered the Fate of Franklin. 2001.
Visions of Kerouac: Satori Magic Edition. 2007.
Chasing Safiya. 1999.
Calypso Warrior. 1995.
Canada's Undeclared War: Fighting Words from the Literary Trenches.1991.
Going For Gold. Co-author with Catriona Le May Doan. 2002.