Rumaan Alam (born 1977) is an American writer. His parents emigrated from Bangladesh to the United States in the early 1970s. Alam, one of four siblings, was born in 1977 and grew up in a suburb of Washington, D.C. He studied writing at Oberlin College. He and his partner adopted two boys. He is the author of three novels: Leave the World Behind, That Kind of Mother, and Rich and Pretty. He also hosts two podcasts for Slate. Leave the World Behind was acclaimed by book critics and nominated for the 2020 National Book Award. It was later adapted as a 2023 film for Netflix with the same name.