2025 Scholar Awards Recipient
Danny Ramadan
Photo credit: Hannes van der Merwe
Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His memoir, Crooked Teeth (2024), received widespread acclaim and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction.
His latest novel, The Foghorn Echoes, won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and earned nominations for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes and the City of Vancouver Book Award. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, won the Independent Publisher Book Award, was longlisted for Canada Reads, and has been translated into multiple languages. Ramadan is also the author of the award-winning Salma children’s series, which received the Nautilus Book Award, the Publishing Triangle Award, the Middle East Book Award, among numerous other accolades.
Since arriving in Canada, Ramadan has raised over $300,000 to support LGBTQ+ refugees, securing safe passage for more than two dozen queer and trans individuals. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Adler University.
He lives in Vancouver with his husband and two dogs. When he’s not writing, you’ll likely find him immersed in a video game.
