Rob Rufus is an award-winning author, screenwriter, musician, and activist. His literary career began when his coming-of-age memoir, Die Young With Me, was released to critical acclaim. It was listed as one of Hudson Booksellers “Best Books of 2016” and won the American Library Association’s prestigious ALEX Award. Rob then released two works of fiction, The Vinyl Underground, which was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and Paradise, WV, which won a gold medal at The IPPY Awards and was subsequently picked up as a series by Paramount Pictures.
Rob created an original TV series called The Obituaries. It is now in development with Ley Line Entertainment (producers of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once). His adapted screenplay for Die Young With Me was a finalist for the Academy of Motion Pictures coveted Nicholl Fellowship and is currently in development; as is a musical adaptation for the stage.
Rob is a professional musician who has toured the world many times over. He is a founding member of the seminal early-2000s punk band Blacklist Royals. His new band, Nubs & Her Studs, is the world’s first “disability-visibility” band. Their debut LP, Unarmed & Dangerous, is slated for release in the first quarter of 2024 on mammoth indie label Fat Wreck Chords.
Rob is an advocate for causes concerning cancer, disability, and the opioid epidemic. He is an ambassador for Teen Cancer America and a member of The Inevitable Foundation for Disabled Screenwriters. He works closely with Make-a-Wish and the Invisible Disabilities Association.
Part memoir, part love song, and part tale about overcoming the odds, this is not a cancer story but an account of a teenager’s life becoming derailed and the one thing that helped him pull it back together: music.
PUNK'S NOT DEAD IN RURAL WEST VIRGINIA. IN THIS BLISTERING LITERARY DEBUT, IT SCREAMS FROM THE BASEMENT OF ROB AND NAT RUFUS - IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHERS WITH SPIKED HAIR, BLACK LEATHER JACKETS, AND THE MOST KICK-ASS RECORD COLLECTION IN APPALACHIA. TO THEM, SCHOOL (AND PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING ELSE) SUCKs, BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE THE ONLY PUNKS IN TOWN?
WHEN THE BROTHERS START THEIR OWN BAND, THEIR LIVES BEGIN TO CHANGE: THEY MEET FRIENDS, ATTRACT GIRLS, AND GET INVITED TO JOIN A NATIONAL TOUR AND ESCAPE THEIR RAT-BOX LITTLE TOWN. BUT THEIR PLANS ARE CUT SHORT WHEN ROB IS DIAGNOSED WITH A RARE FORM OF CANCER THAT HAS ALREADY PROGRESSED TO AN ADVANCED STAGE. NOT ONLY ARE HIS DREAMS OF PUNK ROCK STARDOM COMPLETELY SHREDDED, BUT THERE IS A VERY REAL THREAT THAT THIS IS ONE BATTLE THAT CAN'T BE WON.
WHILE ROB SUFFERS THROUGH NIGHTMARISH TREATMENTS AND DEBILITATING SURGERY, NAT CONTINUES ON THEIR BAND'S ROAD TO SUCCESS ALONE. BUT AS ROB'S LIFE DIVERGES FROM HIS BROTHER'S, HE LEARNS TO FIND STRENGTH WITHIN HIMSELF AND THROUGH HIS MUSIC. DIE YOUNG WITH ME IS AN INTIMATE ACCOUNT OF TEEN ANGST, THE UNIQUE BOND OF IDENTICAL TWINS, AND MUSIC’S ABILITY TO GET US THROUGH THE DARKEST of DAYS.
“Rob Rufus is a punk after my own heart, and his book is a raw, honest picture of the weirdness of growing up.”
“Instantly memorable.”
“Evocative... Rufus’s writing describes the medical rabbit hole we all dread falling into in a style so candid you can imagine yourself tumbling in along with him.”
“Compulsively readable.”
“It cracked into my heart in deep and unexpected ways... simultaneously hard to read and tough to put down.”
“Must-read nonfiction.”
“A valuable contribution to the literature of healing and recovery... with one hell of a soundtrack.”
“The most compelling page-turner of the genre in recent memory.”