From the two-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour comes a Christmas memoir that spans generations and crosses continents ...

Northern lights. Samurai castles. Cree legends. Cape Breton coal mines. South American jungles. Nordic nights. Cherry blossom springs. Will Ferguson traces a single story of coal dust and Christmas from his grandfather's childhood in Scotland through to Ferguson's own befuddled life as a father.

Along the way, he presents Ultimate Haiku and invents a "Canadian dance" (to the amusement of Ecuadorian villagers). He explores Japanese myths, rides on bus roofs through the Andes, and navigates the machinations of kindergarten playgrounds.

Ferguson delves into the philosophy of four-year-olds and reveals at last the true root of celebrity culture. He even answers the burning question, once and for all: What book should you have with you if you are stranded on a desert island?

A richly layered story, told with warmth and humour, Coal Dust Kisses is funny, poignant, and heartfelt.

Travel writer and novelist Will Ferguson is the author of several award-winning memoirs, including Beyond Belfast, about a 560-mile walk across Northern Ireland in the rain; Hitching Rides with Buddha, about an end-to-end journey across Japan by thumb; and most recently the humour collection Canadian Pie, which includes his travels from Yukon to PEI.

Ferguson's novels include Happiness™, a satire set in the world of self-help publishing, and Spanish Fly, a coming-of-age tale of con men and call girls set amid the jazz clubs of the Great Depression. His work, which has been published in more than twenty languages around the world, has been nominated for both an IMPAC Dublin Award and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and he is a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal.

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