Métis with ancestral ties to the Red River (on her father's side) and Canadian settler (on her mother's side), an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD in English and Creative Writing. Jen believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. She is represented by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
Her debut young adult novel, THE SUMMER OF BITTER AND SWEET, won a 2022 Govenor General's Literary Award and is a 2023 Stonewall Honor Book, among other accolades. Her newest book THOSE PINK MOUNTAIN NIGHTS is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and has four starred reviews. Her novella "Missing" won the Malahat Review's 2022 Novella Prize and her essay "Off Balance" was selected for the Best Canadian Essays 2020.
Jen lives on the traditional and unceded territories of the Meskwaki, the Báxoje and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ nations, and teaches fiction writing at Coe College. You can reach her through her contact page.
Credit Jen Ferguson
JEN FERGUSON
Statement on Connection & Belonging
I am an enrolled citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario.
While I have always been able to register as a member of one of the federally and provincially recognized political arms of the Métis Nation, until a few months ago, I held that I did not need this for my own understanding of self. You do not become more Métis with a citizenship card or less without one. Members of my family have long been enrolled and I have always supported their choice.
I recently enrolled because to be a publicly Indigenous person is to be expected to answer not only reasonable questions, but at times hurtful and unreasonable ones.
While I am proud of being Métis and know that there is a lot of work to do to guarantee our rights as a “distinct Indigenous People,” I am very aware that as a political entity the Métis Nation has historically and continues to engage in harmful practices toward our First Nations relatives. This causes me a great deal of sadness. I am actively working to meaningfully be in solidarity with First Nations, those who are politically disenrolled, and our global Indigenous relatives and will be moving forward with other ways to support all Indigenous peoples, not only those who are Métis. Lateral violence is an unacceptable approach; we owe it to ourselves to do better and to be good relations to each other and the land always.
Upcoming Events
APRIL 18 | Governor General Literary Awards Ceremony, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
MAY 14-16, 2024 | Festival of Reading, Toronto, ON, Canada.
JUNE 27-JULY 3, 2024 | ALA Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.
Past Events
FEB 7-10, 2024 | AWP Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO.
DEC 3, 2023 | KidLit Pizzazz Festival, Sidekick Coffee and Books, Iowa City, IA.
NOV 16-19, 2023 | NCTE, Columbus, OH.
NOV 10-11, 2023 | YALLFest, Charleston, SC.
NOV 4, 2023 | The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs, CA. Event benefiting the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert.
OCT 16-22, 2023 | Vancouver Writer’s Festival, Vancouver, Canada.
SEPT 12, 2023 | Those Pink Mountain Nights Launch, Sidekick Books and Coffee, Iowa City, IA
AUG 26, 2023 | B&N Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids, IO.
JULY 14, 2023 | Nerd Camp PA (Virtual).
JUNE 25-27, 2023 | ALA, Chicago, IL.
JUNE 24, 2023 | QPOCFEST (virtual).
JUNE 20, 2023 | The Lammy Awards, NYC, NY.
MAY 17, 2023 | The Forest of Reading, Toronto, ON.
APRIL 29, 2023 | YALLWEST, Santa Monica High School, CA.
MAY 3, 2023 | The Festival of Literary Diversity (virtual).
APRIL 21, 2023 |YALSummit (virtual).
MARCH 8-11, 2023 | AWP Conference, Seattle, WA.
FEB 22, 2023 | White Pine Wednesday LIVE (virtual).
FEB 1-4, 2023 | Ontario Library Association Super Conference: Walking in Two Worlds / Marcher entre deux mondes, Toronto, ON.
NOV 26, 2022 | AugurCon, "Cultivating an Empathetic Author-Editor Relationship," (virtual). Register here.
NOV 12-20, 2022 | NCTE Annual Conference, “Countering Harmful Media Narratives with Young Adult Literature,” Anahiem, CA.
NOV 1, 2022 | Herrick District Library's NaNoWriMo Kickoff Celebration (virtual). Register here.
OCT 24, 2022 | Ace Awareness Panel (virtual). Register here.
OCT 16-17, 2022 | Whistler Writers’ Festival, Whistler, BC.
SEPT 17, 2022 | Div Book Fest, Bennett Day School, Chicago, IL.
SEPT 8, 2022 | Niagara Parks Coast to Coast Speaker’s Series, Niagara Falls, ON.
JULY 30, 2022 | “On Contemporary YA Novels,” Utopia State of Mind, on YouTube.
JULY 14, 2022 | “Epic Reads Contemporary Event,” online.
JUNE 29, 2022 | We Need Diverse Books & Every Library Book Banning Panel, online.
MAY 18, 2022 | “Unrequired Reading,” Katy Budget Books, online.
MAY 19, 2022 | Virtual Book Launch with the Writing Barn & BookPeople, 7 PM Central / 5 PM Pacific on Zoom. Register here.
MAY 18, 2022 | "Unrequired Reading Virtual YA Panel" hosted by Katy Books, 7 PM CT / 5 PM Pacific on Zoom. Register here.
MAY 14, 2022 | LMU Book Launch at the Village Well, 2PM, in person.
MAY 10, 2022 | Book Launch at Skylight Books: "Jen Ferguson in Conversation with Racquel Marie and Hayley from Pages of Hayley," 7 PM Pacific, in person.
MAY 8, 2022 | "YA: Growing Up Queer Then and Now," Bay Area Book Festival, Berkeley, CA, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM in person at the Residence Inn Berkeley, Ballroom II with a signing at 12:45 PM.
MAY 7, 2022 | "What’s New in Native American Literature for Kids," Bay Area Book Festival, Berkeley, CA, 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM in person on the Word Power Stage.
MAY 1, 2022 | Newburyport Literary Festival, "Secrets and Family Ties: Jen Ferguson and Grace K. Shim on Their Debut Novels," 4:45 PM ET / 1:45 PM Pacific on Zoom. Register here.
MARCH 3rd, 2022 | AISL EMERGE ENGAGE EVOLVE Conference: “Using Books to Engage Students in Today’s Critical Conversations” and "Using KidLit to Confront Harmful Media Narratives."
OCTOBER 4th, 2021 | Cover reveal for The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, hosted by: We Need Diverse Books.
MARCH 3rd - 6th, 2021 | Moderator, “Queering the Essay/Queer Essayists Consider Genre,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO.
MARCH 3rd - 6th, 2021 | Panelist, “Working Together: Writers and Journal Editors in Dialogue,” Association of Writers and Writing Programs Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO.
FEBRUARY 19th, 2021 | Classroom Visit, Luke Rolfes’ ENGL 313: Fiction Writing, Department of Language, Literature and Writing, Northeast Missouri State University.