Canadian · b. 1981
Naben Ruthnum is a Canadian writer born in Mississauga, Ontario, to a family of Tamil-Indian descent from Sri Lanka and Mauritius. He writes literary nonfiction and essays under his own name and crime and thriller fiction as Nathan Ripley. His essay collection Curry: Eating, Reading, and Race (2017) examined how South Asian food and identity are described in Western writing, and it won the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize shortlist attention and wide notice. His debut novel, Find You in the Dark (2018), was published as Ripley, and Ruthnum has also written the novels A Hero for Gotham and Your Life Is Mine. His horror novella Helpmeet (2022) was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. He has worked as an editor and critic, and his essays have appeared in Canadian and American publications.