OUT NOW!
Books
The Mystery of the Haunted House
2010 Burt Award Winner
Those Who Wait
2012 Burt Award Honourable Mention
The Step-monster
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2015 Burt Award Winner
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Honour Book: 2017 Burt Award for African Literature (All Star Edition)
Mama's Amazing Cover Cloth
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2019 Efua Sutherland Children's Book Prize
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2019 CABA Honour Book
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2020 IBBY Honour Book
The Lost Royal Treasure
2011 Burt Award Winner
Perfectly Imperfect
2013 Burt Award Winner
To Kiss a Girl
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2017 Burt Award Winner
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Honour Book: 2018 Burt Award for African Literature
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2019 Ayi Kwei Armah Award
When the Shackles Fall
2012 Burt Award Winner
Plain Yellow
2014 Burt Award Winner
A Gift for Fafa
2018 Efua Sutherland Children's Book Prize
Whatever It Takes
2019 Inspire Us Book
Collection
Tani's Wish
(Written for the Ghana Cleft Foundation)
Trotro Trio Book 1:
A Blast to the Past
Girl on Fire
2020 Women in Sports
Collection
bio
Ruby Yayra Goka has always loved stories and storytelling.
As a child, the only person who ‘benefitted’ from her great love of writing and storytelling, was her younger brother, Eli. Each day after school, he was made to watch a performance of a story Ruby made up. The cast of characters were usually her dolls, stuffed animals and her cat, Katie.
Thankfully for Eli, as Ruby got older she preferred reading to putting up productions. This preference often led to conflict with her older sister, Dela, because Ruby would hoard Dela's literature books when Dela needed them to study. This love of reading and telling stories was what led her into writing many years later.
Her first published book for young adults, The Mystery of the Haunted House, won third prize in the Burt Award for African Literature competition in 2010. The Burt Award for African Literature is an award that recognises excellence in African writing for young adults. A year later she published two more books, Disfigured and In the Middle of Nowhere.
Her books for young adults, The Lost Royal Treasure, When The Shackles Fall, Perfectly Imperfect, Plain Yellow, The Step-monster, and To Kiss a Girl, have all won awards in the Burt Award for African Literature competition from the year 2011 to the year 2018. Those Who Wait was given an honourable mention in the same competition in the year 2012.
Her other books for children include A Gift for Fafa, Tani’s Wish, and Mama's Amazing Cover Cloth. Tani’s Wish was written for the Ghana Cleft Foundation to create awareness about cleft lips and palates and to reduce the stigmatization associated with the condition.
Mama's Amazing Cover Cloth won the 2019 Efua Sutherland Children's Prize and has been nominated as both a CABA 2019 Honour book and an IBBY 2020 Honour book.
Ruby believes that the more African children see themselves reflected in the pages of books they read, the more they will dream and know they can be anything they want to be.
When she isn’t spending time with her two dogs and turtle, Ruby will be found either reading, gardening or holding conversations with her "imaginary friends".
reviews
Hi!! I'm just a big fan of your books, they made me like reading Ghanaian books again. I hope to be a writer someday too.
Mawunya Kudu
Hi!! I'm just a big fan of your books, they made me like reading Ghanaian books again. I hope to be a writer someday too. Have a nice day.
Mawunya Kudu
Ghana
