Randy Ribay
Randy Ribay is an American writer of middle grade and young adult fiction. Ribay has won the 2019 Freeman Book Award from the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia and was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature category for his book "Patron saints of nothing". Personal life. Born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest, Ribay was originally an aerospace engineering major [Harvard News 2020] who changed his major to English literature and earned his BA in English literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His master’s degree  was in language and literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ribay teaches high school English in San Francisco, CA. He began his writing career by writing poetry but broke into the prose writing scene by participating in Pitch Slam at a Writer’s Digest annual conference. Career. Section::::"Patron saints of nothing". Ribay is the author of the award-winning book "Patron saints of nothing" (2019). Although initially rejected by several editors, the book won the Freeman Award and was short-listed for the National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature in 2019. The book was also nominated for  the 2020 Edgar Awards chosen by the Mystery Writers of America. "Patron Saints of Nothing" appeared on several Best of 2019 lists including those published by NPR, Kirkus, and the New York Public Library The book is a coming-of-age story about Jay Reguero, a Filipino-American boy of high school age. Reguero travels to the Philippines to find out the story behind a cousin killed in an ongoing drug war based on the nonfictional drug war established by Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte. Once there, he must reevaluate his heritage and his status as a Filipino-American outsider. Ribay  considered the book to be dedicated to the "hyphenated", referring to his Filipino-American heritage.