About The Author
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Andrew MacLean
Andrew MacLean is the author of the Atlantic Canadian newspaper column called Backyard History, which is published weekly in over a dozen newspapers.
He also is the host and writer of the Backyard History Podcast, produced by Jordan Lauzier.
MacLean’s first book, Backyard History: Forgotten Stories From Atlantic Canada’s Past was published by Friesen Press in December of 2023. The whole first print run of the book sold out in an incredibly chaotic ten day frenzy! Signed copies of the book can be ordered on this website.
Andrew MacLean received a degree in History at Fredericton's University of New Brunswick, proceeding onwards towards a Masters at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Before beginning writing, MacLean had already lived a far ranging and eclectic life.
He has backpacked through 37 countries on 5 continents, visiting over 200 different cities around the world. This was funded by doing forestry research in the backwoods of New Brunswick (measuring trees with a measuring tape) in summers to save money, and travelling throughout the winters.
He has run over a dozen election campaigns in five different Canadian provinces.
He has travelled from Nunavut to the Florida Keys doing aerial surveying –making maps– using lasers to track rising waters of global climate change.
All that world travelling was brought to a screeching halt by the global pandemic, which brought him back home to New Brunswick.
Inspired by recalling the long stories about local lore he heard from his grandfather in the tiny village of Tide Head, MacLean began digging deep into obscure moments in Maritimes history as a pandemic passion project.
He began writing his discoveries down in a storytelling format based on how he recalled stories being told up on the North Shore to stay busy during the lockdowns. He coupled the storytelling format with a more rigorous academic research than might be found around a campfire, though.
The first story, detailing the mythology around a sea monster in Lake Utopia nicknamed “Old Ned” was posted on social media in January of 2021, and instantly exploded in popularity, much to its writer's surprise.
One month later he was offered his first weekly history column in The Daily Gleaner – the very newspaper he delivered as a boy. Now he's in nineteen newspapers per week.
