WHAT'S NEW?

In September 2008, HarperCollins Canada will publish Ken's new book, Race to the Polar Sea: The Heroic Adventures of Elisha Kent Kane. In the U.S., California-based Counterpoint Press will bring out the work simultaneously. The book tells the true story of a remarkable explorer who forged a unique, life-saving alliance with the Inuit while discovering "the American route to the North Pole." In the 1850s, after sailing farther north than anyone else, Elisha Kane got trapped in the pack ice off Greenland. He battled starvation, disease and a near mutiny before abandoning ship to lead an astounding escape in sleds and small boats. At the same time as the book appears, Ken will be sailing in Kane Basin with Adventure Canada, giving talks as a resource person while traveling north towards the Pole.

Also this autumn, history buffs will get a chance to see a docudrama based on Ken's book Fatal Passage. When it premiered at HotDocs in Toronto, Martin Knelman of The Star called it "thrilling" and declared it "one of the great triumphs in Canadian documentary film history." It's directed by John Walker, produced by PTV Productions, and will air later this year on History Channel and BBC.

In response to popular demand, Ken has revived his 1990s novel Visions of Kerouac under the imprint Willow Avenue Books. The Satori Magic Edition, which features a new introduction by the author, is an exuberant coming-of-age novel that was hailed by the late Matt Cohen as "an unrepentant blast from the past, a politically incorrect celebration of men as libidinous explorers of the physical and spiritual unknown." You can read all about it, and even see images, by going here.

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