Will Ferguson

Will Ferguson
AOE
Will Ferguson; AOE
Born	William Stener Ferguson; October 12, 1964 (age 60); Fort Vermilion, Alberta, Canada
Occupation	Writer
Alma mater	York University
Genre	Humour; Travel; Canadian history and culture; Fiction;
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

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 Matsumoto, 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

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

Personal life

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

Honor

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

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
2005	—	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	419	Libris Award	Fiction Book of the Year	Won
2021	The Finder	Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence	Novel	Won	^[4]

Bibliography

Fiction

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

I Only Read Murder (2023), with Ian Ferguson
Mystery in the Title (2024), with Ian Ferguson

Travel

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)