Museum Hosts Author for Virtual Lecture

​Museum Hosts Author for Virtual Lecture

Jerry Mikorenda Discusses New Novel Based on Whaling History

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming lecture “The Orca-Human Bond: The True Story Behind Whaler’s Daughter,” held on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 7:00 PM. 

Author Jerry Mikorenda joins us virtually to discuss the history behind his new novel, The Whaler’s Daughter, published in July, 2021. 

In Two-Fold Bay, Australia, Aboriginal people built a symbiotic relationship with orcas, who helped them hunt baleen whales for centuries. These practices were adopted by “station” whalers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this engaging multimedia presentation, author Jerry Mikorenda will reveal the real-life places, history, and stories, like the “Legend of Old Tom,” that inspired his new young adult novel, The Whaler’s Daughter (July, 2021). Learn about Aboriginal whaling, orcas, station whaling, and the technological wonders of the whaleboat. This presentation also features the sights and sounds of the mythical New South Wales town of Paradise, designed to enhance a live reading from the novel.

Jerry Mikorenda’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Herald, The Gotham Center History Blog, and the 2010 Encyclopedia of New York City. His biography America's First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Civil Rights was published in 2020. His historical novel, The Whaler’s Daughter was published by Regal House in July 2021.
Tickets are $5 for the general public and free for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. To register, visit www.hrmm.org/lecture-series.

The Follow the River Lecture Series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank.


About the Follow the River Lecture Series
For more than a decade the Hudson River Maritime Museum's "Follow the River Lecture Series" has hosted historians, authors, and maritime experts for engaging illustrated talks on a variety of regional history and maritime subjects. In recent years, many of the lectures have also been recorded and are available on YouTube. For more information about upcoming lectures and to access recordings of past lectures, visit www.hrmm.org/lecture-series. The series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank.