2024-25 Canadian Writer-in-Residence likes to ‘jump lanes’

Danny Ramadan, 2024-25 Canadian Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary, was born in Damascus and arrived in Canada 10 years ago. 

“Home is a complex concept,” says the writer, who will spend his residency going back and forth between Calgary and his home and husband in Vancouver. “I still feel like Damascus is home, and I do feel like Vancouver is home. I don't think I need to be monogamous when it comes to home. I can fall in love with both.”

Ramadan is also in love with different genres of writing, work that has garnered a long list of awards and accolades. 

He’s just back from a book tour for Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir, which documents his journey from Damascus to Vancouver, including underground queer safe homes, the Arab Spring and spending six weeks in jail. It was a finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Awards in the non-fiction category.

“It's really hard to quantify how a book tour feels, because it is such a beautiful experience to go out and meet all the readers and feel like this book is reaching new people,” Ramadan says. “This was my first time touring with a memoir, so it's very personal.”

His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, is about two lovers and their memories of Syria. The Foghorn Echoes chronicles a forbidden romance between two boys in Syria. In his children’s books, The Salma Series, a girl adjusts to her new country.  

“Fiction was always a shield,” Ramadan says. “I love storytelling. I love to come up with new worlds and I love to mix the realities that I create with some magic and create beautiful, unique stories.” 

Over the course of his residency, Ramadan will work on a book of historical fiction about the people of colour who were on board the Titanic. “Writing is exciting,” he says. “It allows you to jump into places that you never expected before. It opens up doors for you. I didn't think twice about writing historical fiction. I like to jump lanes. There's no method to my madness. I just do whatever comes to mind.”

Ramadan is enjoying getting to know his colleagues in the Faculty of Arts and meeting students and discussing their work. “One is writing a juggernaut, and I can’t wait to see it completed,” he says. “The students are very promising and I'm happy to participate in supporting them.”  

While you can teach students how to imitate famous authors, Ramadan says, he wants to help them find their own way. “Margaret Atwood isn’t Margaret Atwood because she mimicked somebody else, it’s because she writes beautifully herself,” he says. “I hope to tell students how they can have their own unique voice, rather than mimic somebody else.”

The chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, Ramadan has completed several residencies on campuses across Canada. And he’s honoured to be selected as the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program Writer-in-Residence at UCalgary. 

“This is by far the most prestigious one,” he says. “Many authors who won the Governor General’s (Award), who won the Giller (Prize), who won the Booker (Prize), have sat in the seat before me. I am sitting in a historical chair.”