Cynthia Bond

Her debut novel Ruby spent six consecutive weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list,[1] and was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0.

[4] Bond won a journalism scholarship to Northwestern University she then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

[6] Bond founded The Blackbird Collective in 2011 to, according to their website, "create a nurturing, supportive environment for writers" with an emphasis on "telling truths seldom shared, and using creativity to help others.

[3][8] Bond was inspired by some of her own family's history in writing Ruby, including the story of her aunt who was killed by men rumored to be part of the Ku Klux Klan.

[14] Ann Friedman wrote in The Guardian that while the book has evoked comparisons with the work of Toni Morrison or Zora Neale Hurston, "It may be most apt to compare Bond to Gabriel García Márquez.