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Will Ferguson

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For other people with the same name, see William Ferguson (disambiguation).
Will Ferguson
AOE
BornWilliam Stener Ferguson
(1964-10-12) October 12, 1964 (age 60)
Fort Vermilion, Alberta, Canada
OccupationWriter
Alma materYork University
Genre
Notable works
  • 419
  • Happiness™
  • Why I Hate Canadians
  • Hitching Rides with Buddha
Website
willferguson.ca

William Stener Ferguson AOE (born October 12, 1964) is a Canadian travel writer and novelist who won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel 419 (2012).

Biography

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Ferguson was born fourth of six children in the former fur trading post of Fort Vermilion, Alberta, approximately 800 km (500 mi) north of Edmonton.

Ferguson completed his high school education at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School in Red Deer and was awarded the Alexander Rutherford Scholarships in all available categories. He then joined the Canadian government funded programs Katimavik and Canada World Youth. The latter program sent him to Ecuador in South America, as described in his book Why I Hate Canadians. He studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. (Special Honours) in 1990.

Ferguson joined the JET Programme in the early 1990s, and lived in Kyushu, Japan, for five years teaching English. He married his wife, Terumi, in Kumamoto in 1995. While living in Asia, he travelled to China, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia. After moving back to Canada, he experienced a severe reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book, Why I Hate Canadians. He details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues, later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha.

Other activities

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Ferguson is on the board of directors of the Chawkers Foundation, which provides support for literary, artistic, environmental and educational projects.

Personal life

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He currently resides in Calgary, Alberta. His son Genki Ferguson is the author of the novel Satellite Love.[1] His older brother, Ian Ferguson, won the Stephen Leacock Medal for his memoir Village of the Small Houses in 2004. Another brother, Sean Ferguson, is currently the dean of music at McGill University.

Awards and honours

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Honor

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He received an honorary degree in English from Mount Royal University in 2016.

And in 2024, Ferguson was made a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence[2]

Literary awards

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Year Title Award Category Result Ref
2002 Generica (later renamed Happiness) Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour — Won
2005 Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour — Won
— Governor General's History Award Popular Media Won
2010 Beyond Belfast Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour — Won
2012 419 Giller Prize — Won [3]
2013 Libris Award Fiction Book of the Year Won
2021 The Finder Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Novel Won [4]

Bibliography

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Fiction

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  • Happiness™ (2001); originally titled Generica
  • Spanish Fly (2007); published in the UK as Hustle
  • 419 (2012)
  • The Shoe on the Roof (2017)
  • The Finder (2020),

Miranda Abbott mysteries

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Travel

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  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to Japan (1998)
  • Hokkaido Highway Blues (1998); republished in 2005 as Hitching Rides with Buddha
  • Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada (2004)
  • Beyond Belfast: A 560-Mile Walk Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet (2009)
  • Road Trip Rwanda: A Journey into the New Heart of Africa (2015)

Humour

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  • Why I Hate Canadians (1997)
  • How to Be a Canadian (2001), with Ian Ferguson
  • Canadian Pie (2011)
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  • Bastards and Boneheads: Canada's Glorious Leaders, Past and Present (1999)
  • Canadian History for Dummies (2000, revised 2005)

Personal memoirs

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  • I was a Teenage Katima-victim! (1998)
  • Coal Dust Kisses: A Christmas Memoir (2010)

As editor

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  • The Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour (2006)

References

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  1. ^ Valleau, Natalie (September 8, 2020). "Two Calgary authors, who are also father and son, will kick off Wordfest event". CBC.ca. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  2. ^ Rodriguez, Michael (June 7, 2024). "Three Calgarians to be named to Alberta Order of Excellence". Calgary Herald.
  3. ^ Will Ferguson takes Giller Prize for novel 419 Archived 2012-12-27 at the Wayback Machine Toronto Star, October 30, 2012
  4. ^ Vicky Qiao, "Will Ferguson among the winners of 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards". CBC Books, May 28, 2021.
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