Winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize, Running the Rift follows Jean Patrick Nkuba, a naturally gifted athlete, from the day he knows that running will be his life to the moment he must run to save it. Jean Patrick dreams about becoming his country’s first Olympic medal winner in track, but he is a Tutsi in a world that has become increasingly restrictive and violent for his people. As tensions mount between the Hutu and Tutsi, he is thrust into a world where it’s impossible to stay apolitical—where the man who sold him bread a few weeks ago now spews hatred, where an identity card bearing the right word becomes his most prized possession, and where the woman he loves may be lost to him forever. Running the Rift is a stunning and gorgeous novel that takes us beyond the headlines to reveal the causes and effects of Rwanda’s tragic history, and to portray the resilience of the human spirit. Through the eyes of one unforgettable boy, Benaron explores the story of a country’s unraveling, its tentative new beginning, and the love that binds its people together.

NAOMI BENARON holds an MFA and a Master of Science degree in earth sciences, is a certified orthopedic massage therapist and an Ironman triathlete, teaches online for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, and works with the Afghan Women’s Writing Project online and with African refugees in Arizona. She has won a number of literary prizes for her work, including the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, and the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition.

Naomi Benaron's profile page