Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of the 2024 national bestselling novel, The American Daughters, and the 2022 short story collection, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, both published by One World Random House. Both books were New York Times Editor’s Choices and were selected to represent Louisiana at the National Book Festival (2023 and 2024). The short story collection was the 2023 One Book One New Orleans selection, a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and longlisted for the Story Prize. His debut novel, We Cast a Shadow, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award among other numerous awards and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Ruffin is the winner of several literary prizes, including the Iowa Review Award in fiction and the William Faulkner–William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award for Novel-in-Progress. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Oxford American, Garden & Gun, Kenyon Review, and Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America.