Ruth Goring

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About Ruth Goring
Ruth Goring is a poet, writer for children, and visual artist. Isaiah and the Worry Pack released in 2021 as an inaugural title of the IVP Kids imprint. Picturing God (Beaming Books, 2019) is her author-illustrator picture book debut and was honored as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection for January 2020. Her earlier picture book, Adriana's Angels / Los ángeles de Adriana, was released in 2017 (Sparkhouse Family / Augsburg Fortress); the Spanish edition won a silver Moonbeam Award.
Ruth's first poetry collection, Yellow Doors, was published by WordFarm (2003); her second is Soap Is Political (Glass Lyre, 2015). Reading from and discussion of Soap Is Political (Worldview, Chicago Public Radio):
https://soundcloud.com/wbez-worldview/soap-is-political
Interview about Adriana's Angels and a trip to Ruth's childhood homes in southern Colombia (Worldview):
https://www.wbez.org/shows/worldview/global-activism-author-of-adrianas-angels-revisits-colombia-with-family-after-decades/d97c859c-ee85-483a-99d8-7d3e75005349
Article about Adriana's Angels (Darcel Rockett, Chicago Tribune):
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fam-books-adrianas-angels-1205-story.html
Ruth's poems have also appeared in CALYX, Pilgrimage, Comstock Review, RHINO, New Madrid, Crab Orchard Review, Reunion, Iron Horse Literary Review, and elsewhere. She grew up in Colombia and in recent years has provided accompaniment and advocacy to Colombian peace communities and human rights defenders. She recently retired from editorial work in the books division of the University of Chicago Press and teaching advanced manuscript editing in the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.
Her favorite memories include donning a swimsuit to jump in the rain barrel under tropical downpours in southern Colombia; reading and singing with her kids, Claire and Graham, at bedtime when they were little; and, more recently, camping solo and cooking over a fire near the Illinois River.
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Author Updates
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Blog postMy last post hinted at the wild conversations that can happen with children when bedtime is filled with songs, stories, and prayers. My own kids shared a bedroom for years because of a tight budget, so our bedtime ritual involved them together. Many of our most important conversations happened during those years.
No topic was forbidden. My children’s defenses would be down, and sometimes they’d blurt out rather extraor4 months ago Read more -
Blog postPraying with children is one of the most important things we can do to foster their life with God.
My kids and I prayed before meals throughout their growing-up years, and spontaneously anytime they were hurt, frightened, or sick. But the most important time for prayer was bedtime. After I read a picture book or a middle-grade book chapter to them, and a Bible story, we took turns praying. Then I sang something peacefu5 months ago Read more -
Blog postAs Isaiah & the Worry Pack‘s launch day draws near–just 11 days from now!–I’ve been happily busy with writing and interviews about this book, worry/anxiety experienced by children, prayer, and my kids’ books more generally.
I’ve thought again and again of an experience during Lent 1991 in a little church in West Chicago. I had been introduced to guided-imagery meditation before then, through books and a therapist, but on this Wednesday night it changed my life.
My first (s6 months ago Read more -
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Blog postOfficial launch is November 9, 2021. Preorder here! Or through your favorite local or online bookstore.
This story was in my heart for many years–& I had written it down, but that was long before I had learned what I now know about picture book structure & pacing. I’m a late bloomer with picture books, but I keep thinking, I am so glad each book has come out when it has. Each needed to ripen in its own way.
Isaiah & the Worry Pack grew out of my years of seeking G9 months ago Read more -
Blog postI was walking home from a backyard birthday party in my neighborhood—the first festive gathering I had attended in person since the covid-19 pandemic restrictions had begun sixteen months earlier. I had been snapping pictures of beautiful trees and an inspiring front yard with rhubarb, a cloud of dillweed, and a sign with a Wendell … Continue reading "I met Jesus yesterday, and his name is Will"10 months ago Read more
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Blog postA story by my 11-year-old friend Happiness (on right) with a friend A few years ago my mom and dad, my two older brothers, and I moved from a refugee camp in Tanzania to Chicago.
Now I’m eleven years old. My name is Happiness.
One Sunday night I sat down on my usual pillow on the couch between Mama’s legs so she could fix my hair. She divided it into skinny braids and then pulled them into an elastic band on top of my head.
“OK, I’m done,” she said. (Sometimes she does t11 months ago Read more -
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Blog postHere is a poem I wrote as covid-19 ravaged us. It was posted in the fine online journal Psaltery & Lyre on March 1, 2021.
https://psalteryandlyre.org/2021/03/01/corona-way/
So many of us have walked & walked to keep anxiety & grief moving through our bodies & try to maintain sanity.
I had never taken so many photos of trees & sky. After George Floyd was murdered, one protest action called for by BLM Chicago was chalking sidewalks. So that weekend my1 year ago Read more -
Blog postDuring this period of working fully from home, I call my neighborhood walks & hikes “antiviral walks”–they keep me healthy & combat the anxiety & sadness that surge often as I live in physical isolation & read/hear news about the covid19 pandemic’s ravages around the world.
In late afternoon today I bundled up & went on an antiviral walk. Here are some observations of the day & my emotional innards.
When I feel an ache in my chest, it’s a sign that for1 year ago Read more -
Blog postWow. Scientific American has just published a piece by Daisy Grewal summarizing a research review by psychologist Steven O. Roberts & colleagues. Various researchers have investigated how people’s (including children’s) internal image of God relates to their internal image of an ideal boss or leader. A summary of their conclusions reads almost like an academic-style recommendation for Picturing God!
Our assumptions about who should rule in heaven strongly affect our preconceptions2 years ago Read more -
Blog postToday The Well, an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship publication for women in the academy & professions, published a poetry essay they’d solicited from me. The editors plan to feature poems by women throughout the summer, as an invitation to slow down & be nourished, & I had the privilege of orienting readers to a process of entering poems contemplatively–that is, approaching them with the same quiet openness they might bring to scripture reading.
My title, “A Quiet Fire,”2 years ago Read more
Titles By Ruth Goring
It's bedtime again, but Isaiah can't sleep. It seems he's got too many things on his mind: things he’s worried about. So Mom helps Isaiah imagine what it would be like if each of his worries were a block that he could stash in his backpack.
As Isaiah imagines hiking through the woods carrying his worry pack, he discovers the joy and relief of trusting Jesus with everything―especially those worries.
This tender story written by Ruth Goring, paired with Pamela C. Rice's warm illustrations, will be enjoyed by children and the adults who read with them. Also included is a note from the author to encourage further conversation about the content.
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