Author Site
awards & nominations
2021 Arthur Ellis Award for
Crime Fiction
2016 Charles Taylor Prize
longlist: Road Trip Rwanda
2014 IMPAC Dublin Award
longlist: 419
2014 Ian Fleming Steel
Dagger longlist: 419
2013 Libris Award Fiction
Book of the Year: 419
2012 Giller Prize: 419
2010 Leacock Medal:
Beyond Belfast
2010 AWG Award for Creative
Nonfiction: Beyond Belfast
2009 IMPAC Dublin Award
longlist: Spanish Fly
2008 Leacock Medal shortlist:
Spanish Fly
2005 Pierre Berton Award:
Governor General's Award for
History
2005 Leacock Medal:
Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw
2004 Northern Lights Award
for Travel Writing:
"Polar Bear Haven:
an Arctic Journey"
2002 Leacock Medal:
Happiness
2002 CAA Award for Fiction:
Happiness
2002 Commonwealth Prize
shortlist: Happiness
2002 Libris Award Non-Fiction
Book of the Year:
How to Be a Canadian
2002 Leacock Medal shortlist:
How to Be a Canadian
AUTHOR BIO
Will Ferguson is an award-winning travel writer and novelist whose books span the globe, from Buenos Aires to Belfast, from central Africa to southern Japan, from the Australian Outback to Okinawa.
His most recent trip was to the Faroe Islands and Grimsey, off the northern coast of Iceland, where he crossed the Arctic Circle on foot--and was back at his guesthouse in time for tea.
He won the 2021 Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Fiction, and the 2012 Giller Prize for Fiction. A three-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humor, he has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
In his early twenties, Will Ferguson lived and worked in Ecuador, South America, as part of CWY (similar to the American Peace Corps).
He studied film production and screenwriting at York University, graduating with a B.F.A. (Special Honors) in 1990.
After university, he joined the JET (Japan Exchange Teachers) Program and spent five years in Asia, travelling through China, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan. They now live in Western Canada, with their two sons.
His travel memoirs include:
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hitchhiking the length of Japan in Hitching Rides with Buddha
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a 500-mile hike across Northern Ireland in Beyond Belfast
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travels in Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw
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a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda, which was nominated for the Charles Taylor Prize
In 2010, he was the head writer for the Vancouver Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies, penning material for the likes of William Shatner and Michael J. Fox.
Ferguson has written for the New York Times, Esquire UK, Flare, Zoomer, the Globe & Mail, National Post and Canadian Geographic.
He sits on the board of The Chawkers Foundation, and in 2016 received an honorary degree in English from Mount Royal University.
RECENT Books
The sad, funny, heartbreaking story of a psychological experiment gone wrong.
National bestseller
A tale of heartbreak and revenge in the world of international cybercrime.
Winner of the Giller Prize
A coming-of-age story of con men and call girls, set amid the jazz halls of the Dirty Thirties.
published in the UK as
HUSTLE
A journey into the new heart of
Africa with a survivor of the Rwandan geocide.
A story of hope, restored.
IN THE PRESS
ARTICLES BY WILL & upcomiNg Events
SCOTLAND & WHISKY
NEW ZEALAND & MAORI MUD
WILL TAKES THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
Sometimes touching, sometimes amusing and always true, as a traveller and a wordsmith,
Ferguson knows where he is going.
Boston Globe
Beneath that thick skin lies a poetic soul.
The Sunday Times
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© 2017 / 2023 by Dry Inc. author photos © Genki Alex Ferguson
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