To listen to the rest of the episode, as well as the whole archive of Bookable, subscribe and listen on iTunes or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. With a probing eye and tender touch Amanda explores Ruff’s world in this secret coming-of-age classic about changing demographics, interracial friendship, sexual orientation, and first love. Moving and memorable, Finlater explores the overt racism that still plagues America. The book is fiction but draws closely from Ruff’s own childhood growing up Black in the 1970s.

The author has not only captured exactly how a young man views the world around him, but also the way people really talked in an age before political correctness became so pervasive. In Shawn Stewart Ruff’s debut novel Finlater, a Cincinnati housing project takes center stage, acting as a springboard for every aspect of protagonist Cliffy Douglass’s young life. Finlater is a remarkably well constructed story about coming of age in the 1970s. Who we are, and who we become in the world, is shaped by the places we were raised.

With an immersive sound experience designed around each episode, Bookable takes you on an audio exploration of a book-usually new, sometimes classic and occasionally obscure but always worth knowing about. Thea Hillman Debut Gay Fiction: Finlater, Shawn Ruff Debut Lesbian Fiction: The Bruise, Magdalena. Shawn Stewart Ruff is author of the novels GJS II (2016), Toss and Whirl and Pass (2010), Finlater (2008), winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Debut. Bookable features established authors and emerging talent in conversation with host and author Amanda Stern, perhaps best known for creating the Happy Ending Music & Reading Series at New York’s famous Joe’s Pub and Symphony Space. shawn stewart ruff - shawnstewartruff297 - Youtube.

Finlater by Shawn Stewart Ruff