SHAWN STEWART RUFF (born July 19, 1959) is an American novelist and editor who won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Debut Fiction at the 21st Lambda Literary Awards in 2008 for his debut novel Finlater. He has since published the novels Toss and Whirl and Pass (2010) GJS II (2016), Days Running (2025), and the novella One/10th (2013). He was previously editor of the anthology Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Fiction by African-American Writers (1996), which was a shortlisted nominee for the Lambda Literary Award for Fiction Anthologies at the 9th Lambda Literary Awards in 1997. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he studied English literature at the University of Cincinnati. He is currently based in New York City. He is also an established beauty, fashion and lifestyle copywriter, having worked for such brands as Chanel, Estee Lauder and Bergdorf Goodman. ABOUT DAYS RUNNING A dynamic portrait of one queer, Black boy’s experience in 1970s Cincinnati.

Sixteen-year-old Cliffy Douglas’s life is leveling up. An academic superstar on an accelerated path, he’s about to put high school behind him for college on the West Coast. His mentally ill father seems committed to seeking help for both his bipolar disorder and the PTSD brought back from the war in Vietnam. Cliffy even has a boyfriend—a summer romance that just might be the real thing.

But Cliffy’s life is flung into dangerous limbo after a vicious personal assault leaves him hospitalized, and with a terrible secret that threatens to ruin his escape from his claustrophobic family into a larger, more open world. As he recovers from his brutal attack, Cliffy must gather the complicated courage to face his assailant, demand justice, and fight off an encroaching despair that threatens his future.

With Days Running, novelist Shawn Stewart Ruff has created yet another dynamic portrait of one queer, Black boy’s experience in 1970s Cincinnati—chaotic family ties, the friction of shame and self-preservation, devastating violence, unexpected allies, and the desperate desire to break free.