BOOK CLUB.
Welcome to the first annual Women of the Arctic book club! This is a relaxed and cosy event, where we discuss interesting and timely books. Didn't have time to read the whole book? No stress, join us anyway!
We begin the book club with The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd, by Joanna Kafarowski. We are honoured to have Joanna with us, for the latter part of the book club.
The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame:
A Life of Louise Arner Boyd
The first comprehensive biography of Louise Arner Boyd — the intrepid American socialite who reinvented herself as the leading female polar explorer of the twentieth century.
Born in the late 1880s to a gritty mining magnate who made his millions in the California gold rush and a well-bred mother descended from one of New York’s distinguished families, society beauty Louise Arner Boyd was raised during a glittering era.
After inheriting a staggering family fortune, she began leading a double life. She fell under the spell of the north in the late 1920s after a sailing excursion to the Arctic Ocean. Over the next three decades, she achieved international notoriety as a rugged and audacious polar explorer while maintaining her flamboyant lifestyle as a leading society woman. Yet despite organizing, financing, and directing seven daring Arctic expeditions between 1926 and 1955, she is virtually unknown today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
Joanna Kafarowski, Ph.D., is passionate about researching and writing about the lives of women in polar history. She is the author of The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd, the first comprehensive biography of a female Arctic explorer. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
DETAILS:
International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2025
10am UTC -8 (Vancouver), 2pm UTC -4 (Halifax), 4pm UTC -2 (Nuuk), 8pm UTC +2 (Rovaniemi)
ORDERING THE BOOK:
We encourage you to seek out the book at your local library or book store. If that’s not possible, you can also find the book on Amazon.