50 words bio
Danny Ramadan is a Lambda-award winning Syrian-Canadian author. His latest, Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir, is nominated for a Governor General Award. His novels, The Clothesline Swing and The Foghorn Echoes continue to receive accolades. His award-winning children’s books The Salma Series continues to grow. Ramadan has raised over $300,000 for LGBTQ+ refugees. He lives in Vancouver with his husband and two dogs.
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100 words bio
Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and LGBTQ-refugees advocate. His memoir, Crooked Teeth, came out in May 2024 to raving reviews, and is nominated to a Governor General Award for best non-fiction. His latest novel, The Foghorn Echoes won the Lambda Award for Gay Fiction, and was nominated for the BC & Yukon Book awards, and the city of Vancouver Book Award. The Clothesline Swing won the Independent Publisher Book Award, longlisted for Canada Reads, and is translated to multiple languages. His award-winning children’s books The Salma Series received the Nautilus Book Award, The Publishing Triangle Award, the Middle East Book Award, amongst dozens of other nominations and honours. Since his arrival to Canada, Ramadan has raised over $300,000 for LGBTQ+ identifying refugees ensuring safe passage to more than two dozen queer and trans refugees. Ramadan graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, and received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Adler University. He lives in Vancouver with his husband and two dogs. When he is not writing, he is probably playing video games.
Full Bio
Danny Ramadan (He/Him) is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees.
As an author:
Ramadan latest is Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee memoir, which was released to raving reviews. It is nominated for the Governor General Award for best non-fiction. The Vancouver Sun calls the book an "elegantly told, candid, and often intriguing personal history, the memoir never fails to edify."
Ramadan’s sophomore novel, The Foghorn Echoes (Penguin Random House – 2022) was released to critical praise by The Guardian, Vanity Fair and other media outlets across Canada, the UK and the US. It is the winner of the Lambda Literary Award - Gay Fiction. It's shortlisted for the BC & Yukon Book Awards, as well as the City of Vancouver Book Award.
His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing (Nightwood Editions – 2017), was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, longlisted for Canada Reads, and named a Best Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star.
He won the Fiddlehead Short Fiction Contest 2018 with My Name is Bridge, and was a finalist for the Bridge Prize with The Miraculous Return of Khaled from the Dead.
His children book, Salma the Syrian Chef (AnnickPress – 2020), won the Nautilus Book Award, The Middle East Book Award, and named a Best Book by both Kirkus and School Library Journal. It was nominated to the Forest of Reading’s Blue Spruce award, Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize, and the City of Vancouver Book Award.
Salma’s spin-off series of early chapters books includes Salma Makes a Home (May 2023), Salma Writes a Book (October 2023) and Salma Joins the Team (April 2024).
Ramadan is currently working on QMUNITIES: An Exploration of Joy in Queer Communities, and The Unsinkable Women, a historical fiction novel narrating the horrowing experiences of a family of Syrians aboard the Titanic.
As an educator and public speaker:
Ramadan was appointed the Writer in Residence at the Saskatoon Public Library (2020-2021), The Haig-Brown House in Campbell River, BC (2021-2022) and the University of Toronto – Scarborough (2022-2023). His talks focus on the intricate relationship between the craft tools of writing, and the intersectional identity of the author.
Ramadan is also known for his TEDTalk, The Refugee Tree, which was filmed in Vancouver in 2016. He was invited by the First Lady of Iceland to be a lecturor at the Iceland Writers Retreat. He occussionally teaches creative writing in different forms and genres at universities across Canada. Ramadan presented in conferences and writers festivals across the globe both on his work as an author, as well as his activism.
In his advocacy work:
Ramadan runs the annual fundraiser An Evening in Damascus since 2015. The event aims at community building around LGBTQ+ Syrian refugees and offer them a safe and dignified passage to a new home in Canada. Since its conception, EiD had raised over $300,000 for Rainbow Refugee Society, which aided in the safe arrival of twenty-five refugees from across the MENA region.
Ramadan served on the Vancouver Pride Society Board (2016-2020). He served as The Writers Union of Canada’s BC/Yukon Representative between 2021-2023, and is currently the Union’s first queer man of colour to serve as the chair of the union since May 2023.
For his activism, Ramadan was named among the Top Immigrants to Canada 2017 as well as awarded the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Award for Excellency. He was also sainted by the Vancouver Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and given the title Saint Guiding Light to Sanctuary, New Home and Safety.
Ramadan has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC; he also had received an honourary doctorate in human letters from Adler University. he currently lives in Vancouver with his husband, Matthew, and his dogs, Freddie and Dolly. If he is not writing, he is probably playing a video game.