Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Associate Professor Louisiana State University
- Baton Rouge LA
Prof. Ruffin’s work focuses on contemporary Southern fiction, speculative storytelling, and explorations of race, identity, and inequality.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Research Focus
Southern Fiction & Speculative Storytelling
Prof. Ruffin’s work focuses on contemporary Southern fiction, speculative storytelling, and explorations of race, identity, and inequality rooted in New Orleans life. He blends award-winning novels and story collections with community workshops and MFA instruction at LSU to mentor diverse voices and reveal how narrative can expose and heal social fractures.
Education
Grand Canyon University
M.S.
Psychology
2019
University of New Orleans
MFA
Creative Writing
2013
Loyola University
J.D.
2003
University of New Orleans
B.A.
English
2000
Accomplishments
South Arts State Fellowship
2024
John William Corrington Award
2024
Inaugural Tennessee Williams Distinguished Excellence in Literary Arts Award
2024
Louisiana Writer Award
2023
Media Appearances
Opinion | Why Car-Based Attacks Are Especially Terrifying For Cities Like New Orleans
TIME Magazine online
2025-01-03
A few months ago, a good writer friend of mine visited New Orleans for the first time. I love showing off my city, which to my mind is one of the jewels of civilization. That evening, we walked along Canal Street, which borders the historic French Quarter, thousands of people flowed in every direction. He asked if that day were a special occasion. Yes, I thought, we’re alive. That’s the special occasion. Maintaining a year-round festival spirit is what New Orleans is all about.
Opinion | I wrote about a future American dystopia. But in real life, I’m full of hope.
MSNBC online
2024-11-19
To find hope in the aftermath of this month’s election, I don’t have to look any further than the notes I took for the two novels I’ve published since 2019. My debut novel, “We Cast a Shadow,” follows a Black man in a futuristic America trying to protect his son from those who want to destroy his Black body. “The American Daughters,” published this year, is the story of an enslaved girl who joins a spy ring to fight the Confederates.
Q&A: Maurice Carlos Ruffin on historical fiction, family narratives and writing New Orleans
Verite News online
2024-03-15
Ruffin will discuss the novel and what it means to write culturally significant stories at two panels on Saturday (March 16) at the New Orleans Book Festival. Verite News sat down with Ruffin in advance to talk about his approach to writing about slavery and why he writes about New Orleans.
Honoring Street-Level New Orleans: A Conversation with Maurice Carlos Ruffin
The Rumpus online
2021-11-23
In our Zoom conversation earlier this month, held while Ruffin continues to recover from temporary post-Ida displacement, he also made a point to express gratitude for a growing community of New Orleanian and other regional writers who are voicing new Black narratives and remapping America’s Southern literary geographies.
What's in a Page: Maurice Carlos Ruffin on writing his legendary hometown
Entertainment Weekly online
2021-08-16
Maurice Carlos Ruffin is very proud to be from New Orleans. In his new short story collection The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You, he sets out to pay homage to the elements of a city that most people think they know well — but few actually do. He follows a father and son after the former's return home from prison, a family home in peril, residents scrambling to prepare for Hurricane Katrina, and more tableaus of the off-off-Bourbon Street variety. Here, in EW's author series, the Pen/Faulkner Award finalist explains how he got his start with the written word and what the new story collection means to him.
Event Appearances
Keynote Address
2024 | VONA Voices
Presenter
2024 | Western Carolina University Literary Festival
Presenter, “The American Daughters”
2024 | New Orleans Book Festival
Media
