Will Ferguson

Author profile

born

October 12, 1964 in Fort Vermilion, Alberta, Canada

website

http://www.willferguson.ca/

About this author

Will Ferguson (born William Stener Ferguson) is a Canadian writer and novelist who is best known for his humorous observations on Canadian history and culture. His success as a writer can be attributed to an innate ability to view Canada much the same way an outsider would, as described in his debut book, the ironically named Why I Hate Canadians. Ferguson talks about this in a recent CBC radio interview as well. Ferguson was born fourth of six children in the former trading post of Fort Vermilion, Alberta, approximately 800 km north of Edmonton. His parents split up when he was 6 during a brief interlude in Regina. At the age of 16 he quit school and moved to Saskatoon, Dauphin, and Red Deer. He then joined the Canadian government funded p...more Will Ferguson (born William Stener Ferguson) is a Canadian writer and novelist who is best known for his humorous observations on Canadian history and culture. His success as a writer can be attributed to an innate ability to view Canada much the same way an outsider would, as described in his debut book, the ironically named Why I Hate Canadians. Ferguson talks about this in a recent CBC radio interview as well. Ferguson was born fourth of six children in the former trading post of Fort Vermilion, Alberta, approximately 800 km north of Edmonton. His parents split up when he was 6 during a brief interlude in Regina. At the age of 16 he quit school and moved to Saskatoon, Dauphin, and Red Deer. He then joined the Canadian government funded programs Katimavik and Canada World Youth. He studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto graduating with a B.F.A. 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, Japan, in 1995. After coming back from Japan 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.

Ferguson has won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour twice, for Generica (later renamed Happiness) in 2002 and Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw in 2005.

He currently resides in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife and two sons. His older brother, Ian Ferguson, also won the Stephen Leacock Medal, for Village of the Small Houses.

Ferguson is also an outspoken critic of the monarchy of Canada, both publicly and in his books. He is often quoted in the media when the monarchy issue is being debated, particularly from his 1997 book Why I Hate Canadians, in which he says "Royalty exists only through an act of willful ignorance on the part of their subjects. Call it a suspension of common sense." He contrasts this with profiles of Canadian secessionist and independence movements (such as the "Republic of Madawaska") in his book Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw (2004).(less)

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Books by Will Ferguson

Average rating: 3.77 · 3,328 ratings · 485 reviews · 24 distinct works

	Happiness 3.79 avg rating — 950 ratings — published 2001 — 23 editions	My rating:
	How to Be a Canadian by Will Ferguson, Ian Ferguson 3.66 avg rating — 579 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Hokkaido Highway Blues 3.96 avg rating — 768 ratings — published 1998 — 12 editions	My rating:
	Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada 3.60 avg rating — 295 ratings — published 2004 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Why I Hate Canadians 3.61 avg rating — 244 ratings — published 1999 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Beyond Belfast 3.62 avg rating — 90 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Bastards & Boneheads: Canada's Glorious Leaders, Past and Present 4.03 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 1999	My rating:
	Spanish Fly 3.72 avg rating — 96 ratings — 5 editions	My rating:
	Canadian History for Dummies 3.89 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 2000 — 3 editions	My rating:
	I Was a Teenage Katima-Victim: A Canadian Odyssey 3.91 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 1998	My rating:

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Quotes by Will Ferguson

“The two most important phrases in the human language are "If only" and "Maybe someday". Our past mistakes and our unrequited longings. The things we regret and the things we yearn for. That's what makes us who we are.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

26 people liked it

“Obviously, he needed to kill Bubba, but how? The man was a trained prison guard twice his size. The tax auditors had been easy. Mr. Ethics had slapped them to death with their own attaché cases. And even then, his neighbours had chipped in to help him hide the bodies. "A tax auditor, you say? No problem. Let me get my spade.”
― Will Ferguson, Happiness

3 people liked it

“Many Canadian nationalists harbour the bizarre fear that should we ever reject royalty, we would instantly mutate into Americans, as though the Canadian sense of self is so frail and delicate a bud, that the only thing stopping it from being swallowed whole by the US is an English lady in a funny hat.”
― Will Ferguson

2 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: 10.8 (OH CANADA!)	37	183	Dec 21, 2009 02:06pm
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	3072	2868	Aug 31, 2010 10:39pm
Cover to Cover Ch...: Dot's Booklist for 2010	156	99	Dec 31, 2010 10:15pm
The Seasonal Read...: 5.5 - Maple Leaf Rag	16	106	Aug 04, 2011 03:46pm
Around the World ...: Japan	5	89	Mar 11, 2012 12:45pm
Bill Bryson	57	357	May 02, 2012 10:04pm
Chaos Reading: Bookshelf Nominations: Fiction - Humour	27	78	May 28, 2012 05:31pm

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