Biography

Randy Ribay writes stories for young people and the young-at-heart. He’s the author of Patron Saints of Nothing; Everything We Never Had; Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Reckoning of Roku; and more. He’s a two-time National Book Award nominee, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, a co-winner of the Michael L. Printz award, and a recipient of the Asian/Pacific American Library Association award. He’s also been a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize, Walden Book Award, Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and Carnegie Medal. His books have appeared on the New York Times, Indie, and USA Today best-sellers lists.

Born in the Philippines and raised in the US, Randy has always loved stories in all forms. However, he never planned on becoming an author. He initially went to college for aerospace engineering on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, but soon discovered this was not a good fit. Randy eventually earned his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Ed.M. in Language & Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He was an educator for sixteen years at the middle and then high school levels, serving as an English teacher, department chair, DEI coordinator, basketball coach, and wrestling coach—sometimes in several of these roles simultaneously.

Randy now writes full-time and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, son, and cat-like dog.

Book Randy

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