By Kailah Johnson, Staff Writer
Maurice Carlos Ruffin, a New Orleans native and author of “We Cast a Shadow,” gave a reading of his work on Nov. 6 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
The event was sponsored by the Seavey Reading Series and the Writer’s Institute at Susquehanna.
Ruffin is an acclaimed writer, attorney and a founding member of the Peauxdunque Writers Alliance (PWA). The alliance is a non-profit organization that provides a group setting for individuals to come together and develop their work within multiple genres, according to the PWA website.
Ruffin is a graduate of the University of New Orleans creative writing workshop. His debut novel We Cast a Shadow, a dystopian fiction satire novel, was published by Penguin Random house this past year.
The novel tells the story of a nameless protagonist whose tries to protect his biracial son, Nigel’s, identity The protagonist must take a new experimental medical procedure that saves lives by turning people white. The nameless protagonist, in order to afford Nigel’s whiteness operation, has to make partner at his law firm and endure several tasks in this dystopian world with the revival of racism, private prisons and segregation.
His work has been featured in several literary journals including Virginia Quarterly Review, AGNI, The Kenyon Review and many others. In 2018 he was featured in the New York Times “Black Male Writers for Our Time” alongside authors like Ishmael Reed, Danez Smith, Jericho Brown and Boots Riley.
Though known primarily as a novelist and essayist, Ruffin began his reading with a small selection of his poetry, which was the first time he’s ever shared it in front of an audience, he said. Later at the reading, Ruffin shared a small section from “We Cast a Shadow.”
His writing is filled with vivid imagery, truly capturing this dystopian world we writes about, mixing dry humor in his descriptions which transcended from the page into the reading as a whole.
The evening filled with comedic tones as well as commentary of what it means to be a black man writing in a world where black narratives are often seen as less valuable.
“The talk was really interesting, and I appreciate people like Maurice Carlos Ruffin who creates spaces for young black writers and young black artists and understand that they have a platform and that their presence is needed for young black artists, it’s really inspirational,” first-year Alexis Jefferson said.
After the event, readers and listeners poured out into the lobby of the Stretansky Concert Hall for a book signing where they got the chance to talk candidly with Ruffin.
“It was absolutely amazing. Maurice Carlos Ruffin is hands down the best writer we’ve brought to campus. He’s engaging and entertaining and honestly so hilarious. He gave the best advice and I definitely learned a lot about him, especially through his extended Q&A,” sophomore Kayla Bush said. “
“He also reads his work very, very well, making it engaging for the audience,” Bush added.
Ruffin’s reading was lively and filled with laughter, tangents about superheroes and comic books while making relevant commentary on black manhood and what it means to exist as a black writer.
Ruffin closes out the Writer’s Institutes Seavey Reading Series for the fall semester. His 2019 novel, “We Cast a Shadow” is available in bookstores and online.
