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419 cover.JPG

a literary thriller spanning continents


How far would you go for revenge?

WINNER OF THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
IMPACT DUBLIN AWARD LONGLIST


"Riveting. Provocative."
--Globe & Mail

"A powerful read."
--NOW Magazine
 
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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: 

  • hitchhiking the length of Japan in Hitching Rides with Buddha 

  • a 500-mile hike across Northern Ireland in Beyond Belfast  

  • travels in Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw  

  • 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.

About
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

RTR cover to use.JPG

A journey into the new heart of

Africa with a survivor of the Rwandan geocide.

A story of hope, restored.

My Books
IN THE PRESS

If Douglas Adams and P.J. O'Rourke ever had an extraterrestrial Satanic love-child, it would probably write like Will Ferguson.

 

That is, it would be observant, attitudinal, occasionally offensive and funny.

Los Angeles Times

Press
Events
ARTICLES BY WILL  &  upcomiNg Events

OFF-TOPIC:

Keynote Address

Banff Writers Retreat

ROCKY MOUNTAINEER:

A Train Journey

in Search of Bears

SCOTLAND & WHISKY

Zoomer Magazine

NEW ZEALAND & MAORI MUD

Zoomer Magazine

ON VISITING A CONGOLESE REFUGEE CAMP IN WESTERN RWANDA

Globe & Mail

WILL TAKES THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

CBC audio

Q&A: "Only thing harder than writing, is NOT writing."

 

Globe & Mail 

CBC BOOKS

Will Ferguson

 

videos, interviews, quips 

Contact

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

For media inquiries, please contact

Shayla Leung, Publicist

(236) 330-1243

HarperCollins, 22 Adelaide St W

Toronto, ON  M5H 4E3

For literary rights, please contact

Jim McCarthy, DGB

(212) 627-9100 

Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC
One Union Square West | Suite 904 | New York, NY  10003 

For film rights, please contact

Leslie Conliffe, IPG

Intellectual Property Group, 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500

Los Angeles, California 90025

(310) 402-5163

© 2017 / 2023 by Dry Inc.  author photos © Genki Alex Ferguson

Intellectual Property Group, 0585 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 140,

Los Angeles, California 90025

For media inquiries, please contact

Catherine Whiteside, Publicity Manager

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