Genki Ferguson

Genki Ferguson was born in New Brunswick to a family of writers and grew up in Calgary. He spent much of his childhood in the subtropical island of Kyushu, Japan, where his mother’s family still resides. His debut novel, Satellite Love, was shortlisted for the 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and longlisted for Canada Reads. Fluent in Japanese and capable of making a decent sushi roll, Ferguson has a degree in Film Production and works at Book Warehouse, an indie store in Vancouver.

Instagram: genki_ferguson

FESTIVAL BOOK

Satellite Love

Satellite Love is one of those rare and affecting novels that will leave you breathless, charmed and deeply thoughtful. A beautiful rumination on sentience, imagination, impermanence and friendship Genki Ferguson has written a story that lives on the precarious and satisfying edge of melancholy and exuberance.” – Ruth Ozeki

A beautifully unconventional debut novel about a girl, a boy, and a satellite – and a bittersweet meditation on loneliness, alienation, and what it means to be human. It was longlisted for Canada Reads and shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction.

On the eve of the new millennium, in a city in southern Japan that progress has forgotten, 16-year-old Anna Obata looks to the stars for solace. An outcast at school, and left to fend for herself and care for her increasingly senile grandfather at home, Anna copes with her loneliness by searching the night sky for answers. But everything changes the evening the Low Earth Orbit satellite (LEO for short) returns her gaze and sees her as no one else has before.

After Leo is called down to Earth, he embarks on an extraordinary journey to understand his own humanity as well as the fragile mind of the young woman who called him into being. As Anna withdraws further into her own mysterious plans, he will be forced to question the limits of his devotion and the lengths he will go to protect her.

Full of surprising imaginative leaps and yet grounded by a profound understanding of the human heart, Satellite Love is a brilliant and deeply moving meditation on loneliness, faith, and the yearning for meaning and connection. It is an unforgettable story about the indomitable power of the imagination and the mind’s ability to heal itself, no matter the cost, no matter the odds.

GET THE BOOK

Shelf Life Books | Calgary Public Library | Audible

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Cosmic Connection: Second-generation writer Genki Ferguson blazes own trail with charming debut – Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald
25@25 with Will Ferguson – Wordfest Imagine On Air
26 @ 26 with Ruth Ozeki – Wordfest Imagine On Air
Genki Ferguson & Rowan Hisayo Buchanan – Wordfest Imagine On Air