Cynthia Bond (born 24 April 1961)Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997. Texas: Texas Department of State Health Services. Microfiche. Retrieved May 7, 2025. is an American author and actress. Her debut novel Ruby spent six consecutive weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list, and was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0."RUBY by Cynthia Bond (Hogarth) New Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 Selection", News and Information, Penguin Random House. She was born in Hempstead, Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles, California. Bond won a journalism scholarship to Northwestern University she then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Bond was a PEN Rosenthal Fellow for Emerging Writers. Bond is also on staff at the Paradigm Malibu Adolescent Treatment Center.
Early life Cynthia Dale Bond was born in Hempstead, Waller County, Texas. Her parents are Zelma Marshall (née Harris)Orange County, Texas. Marriage records. Orange County Clerk's Office, Orange, Texas. and Horace James Bond."Entry for Cynthia Dale Bond and Horace James Bond, 24 Apr 1961". Texas, Birth Index, 1903-1997. Vol. 673
Professional work 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." She taught writing to homeless and at-risk youth for over 15 years at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Some of the youth she worked with inspired episodes of sexual violence described in her debut novel, Ruby. 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. She spent ten years working on the manuscript for Ruby. Bond's mother and her agent initially encouraged her to break the 900-page book into a trilogy. Bond initially believed it stood better as a single volume, then eventually agreed that a trilogy would be the best evolution for the novel.
Ruby was considered a "strong first novel" by Kirkus Reviews. Booklist called Ruby a "stark, unflinching portrait of dark deeds and dark psyches." Ruby is in part a "gritty story," but it also contains "mystical elements," according to Library Journal. People Magazine wrote that Ruby was not an "easy read," but it had an important and "compelling" message. 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. Ruby is woven with magical realism....but Bond's luminous prose is grounded in a sure reality."Ann Friedman, "Ruby by Cynthia Bond review – a survivor's story of love, madness and Satanism", The Guardian, February 17, 2015.
Ruby was shortlisted for the 2016 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction."Ruby by Cynthia Bond", Book Word, May 21, 2016."On Writing: Cynthia Bond" , Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction, June 7, 2016.
Personal life She currently lives in Los Angeles with her daughter. Bond is bisexual. She was once married to actor JB Blanc.
Trivia Bond played the lead antagonist in the 1990 horror film Def by Temptation. She is a cousin of the late civil rights activist Julian Bond.An Interview with...Cynthia Bond
Works Ruby. New York: Hogarth, 2014.
References
External links Official site Interview