Joanna Kafarowski, PhD, FRGS

I research and write books about forgotten women in polar history. I left academia in order to focus full-time on this rewarding work. “The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame A Life of Louise Arner Boyd” is the first comprehensive biography of a female polar explorer. My latest book “Antarctic Pioneer The Trailblazing Life of Jackie Ronne” is the first biography of a female Antarctic explorer. My next book project will take a wider view of gender in polar exploration.

I’m passionate about uncovering the lives of remarkable polar women like Louise Arner Boyd (1887-1972) who organized, financed and lead seven daring expeditions by sea to Greenland, Franz Josef Land and Svalbard and Jackie Ronne (1919-2009) who was the first woman to actively participate in an Antarctic expedition, the first American woman in Antarctica and the first of two women to over-winter there. There are so many tantalizing stories of polar women- Indigenous and non-Indigenous- still left untold.

What’s your message to the world?

The polar regions have always resonated deeply with me and I believe this is “the something shared” with all polar women. If you have the opportunity to go to the Arctic or visit Antarctica, seize it! Embrace the freedom and the fierce joy that we all experience in these magical places!