Ruby Yayra Goka: Ghanaian Dentist and Author

Ruby Yayra Goka (born 15 May 1982, Accra) is a Ghanaian dentist and author. She has 15 books to her credit and is best known for being a multiple Burt Award for African Literature winner in Ghana. Goka, who is an alumnus of the University of Ghana Dental School, currently heads the Dental Department of the Volta Regional Hospital, Ho.

Born in Accra, Ghana, Goka was born to Simon Yao Goka, a retired diplomat, and Lydia Aku Goka, a stay-at-home-mother.
When Ruby was two years old, her family moved to Ethiopia where she attended the Peter Pan International School.
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 recognizes 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 honorable 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.”

Source: rubygoka.com