About the Author

Will Ferguson was born and raised in the former fur-trapping settlement of Fort Vermilion in the backwoods of northern Canada. Fortunately, he managed to escape, and he has since travelled throughout Latin America and East Asia. Indeed, he prides himself on having gotten utterly and hopelessly lost in more than a dozen exotic locales, including Ecuador, Peru, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea, and Japan. 'How I ever became a travel writer is beyond me,' he confesses. 'I have absolutely no sense of direction.' Ferguson has a BFA in screenwriting from York University, Toronto. His first three books were plucked from the slush pile: he is the author of the satirical bestseller Why I Hate Canadians, which was all but banned from export (though it can be ordered online at chapters.ca, he advises), and his other works include a nuts-and-bolts traveller's bible, The Hitchhiker's Guide to Japan, as well as a humorous expose about his experience in a misguided drunken government youth program, entitled I Was a Teenage Katima-victim! He has also written an insightful and highly scientific political analysis: Bastards & Boneheads (it was a study of our leaders).

Reviews

* A brilliant parody ... bright and very funny. Mail on Sunday * Will Ferguson's talent as a satirist is to be treasured. His wit enlivens every page, and what starts as an amusing book about publishing expands into a glorious romp though modern life. Literary Review * HappinessTM is a wonderfully assured, gleefully twisted and deeply irreligious satire which manages to be as moving as it is funny. -- Charlie Hill Independent on Sunday * Will Ferguson is a very gifted writer. Bill Bryson