In November, the book was also nominated for a 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal, which is given to book “written in English for children and young people that create an outstanding reading experience through writing.” The award is considered “the UK’s oldest and most prestigious book award for children’s writing.” Sandler, who are also finalists for the prestigious award under the Young People’s Literature category. It was named a finalist for the 2019 National Book Awards in the US, joining the likes of Akwaeke Emezi, Jason Reynolds, Laura Ruby, and Martin W.

Ribay’s story, since its release in June, has resonated. The result is The Patron Saints of Nothing, Ribay’s third young adult novel, a lyrical and fast-paced story that is at once a reminder and a call to action for what has been going on in the Philippines since Duterte came to power – a brutal war on drugs that has killed thousands and left thousands more orphaned and in mourning.

We wanted to create art that would bring attention to some of these things, to keep the conversations going, in the hopes of doing something with our writing,” he said. “A lot of my other friends and I were just feeling at the time that we needed to do something.

It was nighttime in his West Coast home, and he had just met with friends from Malaya, a coalition of mostly Filipino-Americans who are opposed to Duterte’s policies and organize to pressure US lawmakers to act on them. “In 2016, it was in the headlines here in the United States, it was in the forefront of my mind,” Ribay told Rappler during a Skype interview. MANILA, Philippines – Author Randy Ribay set out to write a young adult novel on the Philippine drug war because it was all he could read on the news.

Randy ribay patron saints of nothing