How Ireland Made Antarctic History – A Lecture by Author Michael Smith

Michael Smith

Michael Smith is a Polar an author whose books have sold over 300,000 copies worldwide and are assisting with the development of several film dramas. An Unsung Hero, the biography of Tom Crean, stimulated widespread interest in Ireland’s overlooked role in Polar exploration and now forms part of the curriculum in Irish schools. Michael’s books include Shackleton – By Endurance We Conquer, Great Endeavour – Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers and for younger readers, Tom Crean – Iceman.  He has appeared on TV and radio and lectured extensively at prestigious venues such as the National Library of Ireland, Royal Society of Irish Antiquarians, National Maritime Museum, Royal Geographical Society, Scott Polar Research Institute, the Princess Grace Memorial Library, Monaco. He has appeared at many Irish literary festivals, including Dublin Festival of History, Dublin Book Festival, West Cork Literary Festival, Writers’ Week Listowel, Cuirt, Ennis Books, Immrama, Words by the Sea and Mountains to Sea Festival. Michael was an award-winning journalist with The Guardian and The Observer.

What the Press says about Michael Smith’s Books…

Reviews of  Tom Crean – Unsung Hero 

“Michael Smith has written a splendid biography”. – The Nautical Magazine

“A wonderful Kiplingesque tale about a great Irishman who didn’t have to die to become a hero”. -Irish Independent

The epic struggles, heroics and unbelievable hardships of the voyages are wonderfully told. Compulsive reading. The Irish Times

‘Perhaps the most riveting biography I’ve ever read.’  Orlando Sentinel

“This is a moving account of a genuine hero – modest, honest and powerful…timely in an age when we put down our heroes”.  Frank Delaney

“Michael Smith’s gripping biography”  Sara Wheeler, Evening Standard.

Reviews of Shacketon – By Endurance We Conquer ..

“This is a rich volume, written in a passionate, engaging style that makes it a compelling read, full of nuanced conclusions about many of Shackleton’s formative life moments, and meticulously researched, as with all of Michael Smith’s work”.  The Irish Times

‘Smith, in illuminating this unforgettable figure, brings his own considerable scholarship in the field to the story’.  Caroline Moorehead  Wall Street Journal
“A fascinating book – warm, complex, engaging – just like the man himself. This absorbing new biography strips away the myths and misconceptions to reveal one of the twentieth century’s most important explorers in all his flawed genius.”  Mick Conefrey, Author of Everest, 1953.