After the Shot Drops

Randy Ribay is a young adult fiction author whose novel Patron Saints of Nothing won the Freeman Award. Ribay was born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest. His protagonist Nasir in After the Shot Drops is half Black and half Filipino, reflecting some of Ribay’s heritage. In addition to being an author, Ribay also teaches high school English in the San Francisco Bay area.

In a writer’s convention focusing on complexity in young adult fiction, Ribay explained the importance of writing texts that are not didactic; instead of imparting a specific moral lesson, texts should encourage readers to ponder and discuss complicated questions. Ribay said, “So when I write, I start with an authentic question, one that I don’t already know the answer to” (Ribay, Randy. “Complexity in YA.” Randy Ribay, 25 Nov. 2018). When writing After the Shot Drops, Ribay took the traditional narrative of Black and brown kids who escape poverty through sports but asked what happens to those who do not have superior athletic prowess or academic ability to propel them.

Wallace plays a central role in this question. Ribay notes that when he first wrote Wallace, he was a “cardboard” villain who served as a mere