Jen Ferguson

{{Infobox writer

| birth_place =

| language = English

| genre = Young adult

| notableworks = The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

| years_active = 2021–present

| website = {{URL|https://www.jenfergusonwrites.com/}}

| occupation = novelist, professor

| children =

| birth_date =

| honorific_prefix =

| nationality = Canadian, Métis

| alma_mater = University of South Dakota

| awards = Governor's General Award, Stonewall Honor, 2022 Cybils Award

}}

Jen Ferguson is a Michif/Métis Canadian writer, activist, and academic of young adult fiction. She is best known for her Governor General's Award-winning and William C. Morris Award-nominated debut novel The Summer of Bitter and Sweet.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=November 16, 2022 |title=Sheila Heti wins $25K Governor General's Literary Award for fiction |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/sheila-heti-wins-25k-governor-general-s-literary-award-for-fiction-1.6652542 |access-date=January 5, 2024 |website=CBC}}

Personal life

Ferguson is of Michif/Métis and Canadian settler heritage and identifies as queer.{{Cite web |last=Bardwell |first=Neely |date=2023-07-24 |title=Q&A with Michif/Métis writer, Jen Ferguson, on her soon to be released young adult novel. |url=https://nativenewsonline.net/arts-entertainment/q-a-with-michif-metis-writer-jen-ferguson-on-her-soon-to-be-released-young-adult-novel |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=Native News Online |language=en-GB}}

She considers herself an army brat and grew up moving around in Canada, spending a few years in Calgary, and then moving to Lloydminster, which she says was the first place where she witnessed anti-indigenous violence.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=December 22, 2023 |title=Why writing fiction for young people inspires Jen Ferguson to keep hope alive |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/why-writing-fiction-for-young-people-inspires-jen-ferguson-to-keep-hope-alive-1.7067544 |access-date=January 5, 2024 |website=CBC}}

The first book she remembers reading is Caroline B. Cooney’s The Face on The Milk Carton.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-11 |title=Q&A: Jen Ferguson, Author of 'Those Pink Mountain Nights' |url=https://thenerddaily.com/jen-ferguson-author-interview/ |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=The Nerd Daily |language=en-AU}}

Ferguson has a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of South Dakota.{{Cite web |title=English & Creative Writing Faculty |url=https://www.coe.edu/academics/majors-areas-study/english-creative-writing/faculty |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=Coe College}} She teaches fiction writing at Coe College.{{Cite web |last=cynthia |date=2023-09-13 |title=Author Interview: Jen Ferguson on Sophomore Books & Shaping Characters |url=https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/2023/09/author-interview-jen-ferguson-on-sophomore-books-shaping-characters/ |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=Cynthia Leitich Smith |language=en-US}}

Career

= ''The Summer of Bitter and Sweet'' =

Her debut novel, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, was published by Heartdrum in 2022.

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet won the Governor General's Award and received starred reviews from Booklist,{{Cite web |last=Jeanne |first=Fredriksen |date=May 1, 2022 |title=The Summer of Bitter and Sweet |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Summer-of-Bitter-and-Sweet/pid=9759925 |url-status=live |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=Booklist |archive-date=February 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219170044/https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Summer-of-Bitter-and-Sweet/pid=9759925 }} BookPage, Kirkus Reviews,{{Cite web |date=March 2, 2022 |title=The Summer of Bitter and Sweet |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jen-ferguson/the-summer-of-bitter-and-sweet/ |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=Kirkus Reviews |archive-date=February 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219170047/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jen-ferguson/the-summer-of-bitter-and-sweet/ |url-status=live }} and School Library Journal.{{cite web |last=Saarinen |first=Tamara |title=The Summer of Bitter and Sweet |url=https://www.slj.com/review/the-summer-of-bitter-and-sweet |work=School Library Journal}} It was also a finalist for the 2023 William C. Morris Award,{{Cite web |last=SRAMIREZ |date=2023-01-30 |title=2023 Morris Award |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/2023-morris-award |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) |language=en}} as well as a Stonewall Honor Book in Children’s and Young Adult Literature in 2023,{{Cite web |last= |date=2009-09-09 |title=Stonewall Book Awards List |url=https://www.ala.org/rt/rrt/award/stonewall/honored |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=Round Tables |language=en}} and the 2022 Cybils’ Award for Young Adult Literature.{{Cite web |title=About the Cybils Awards |url=https://www.cybils.com/about-the-cybils-awards |access-date=2024-01-05 |language=en-US}}

= ''Those Pink Mountain Nights'' =

Her second novel, Those Pink Mountain Nights, is a sequel to her debut and was published by Heartdrum in 2023. It is about an indigenous teen working her first job at an Alberta pizza shop and coming of age. It explores the topic of missing and murdered indigenous women, mental health, and sexuality.

It was inspired by her experience working in a pizza shop in the Canadian prairie when she was 16, a screenplay about a pizza shop she wrote in her early 20s, and the "ongoing human rights crisis happening in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico".