Ruth Hartley

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Ruth Hartley

Goodreads Author


Born
in Harare, Zimbabwe
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences
Doris Lessing, Angela Carter, Jeanette Winterson,

Member Since
October 2012


Artist, Activist, Author: Storyteller
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I write and paint because I am a storyteller. I have always made stories, though at times I’ve been lost for direction, identity and method. I paint to explore and share ideas and feelings.

I have lived and worked in several countries. In my art and my writing, I draw on my own stories and those of the fascinating and extraordinary people I've met.

Through my four remarkable children and my grandchildren, I am connected to other generations and enriched by different cultures and ways of being. My stories explore connections, conflict, creativity and communication.

For a brief bio with a timeline, see the About page of my website: https://ruthhartley.com/ruth-hartley/
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Ruth Hartley Its not my problem - the problem is finding time to write when there's so much admin around publishing a book.…moreIts not my problem - the problem is finding time to write when there's so much admin around publishing a book.(less)
Ruth Hartley Writing. Writing and writing and reworking and editing and plotting and planning and structuring and characterizing and shaping and so on and on -
Average rating: 4.52 · 27 ratings · 5 reviews · 15 distinct works
The Shaping of Water

4.17 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions
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The Tin Heart Gold Mine

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The White and Black Blues

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The Love and Wisdom Crimes

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The Spiral-Bound Notebooks

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Dust and Rain: Chipo and Ch...

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When I Was Bad

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When We Were Wicked: Short ...

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To the Greatest Glory of God

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More books by Ruth Hartley…

My Grandson, Climate Change, Drought and that Children’s Book

On the Zambezi RiverDust and Rain. cover design by artist Style Kunda

In 1993, while sitting in a boat on the Zambezi River floodplain, far north of Mongu, watching the beautiful flights of hundreds of pelicans, I began to make notes and sketches for a book about climate change for my grandson, Stephen Kupakwesu Bush. It was called The Drought Witch. Stephen was 3 years old. It would not be until 2

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Published on August 09, 2025 07:02
Exit Wounds: A St...
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Mother State: A P...
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Wide Sargasso Sea
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Ruth Hartley wrote a new blog post

My Grandson, Climate Change, Drought and that Children’s Book

On the Zambezi RiverDust and Rain. cover design by artist Style KundaIn 1993, while sitting in a boat on the Zambezi River floodplain, far north of Mo Read more of this blog post »
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Exit Wounds by Peter Godwin
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Mother State by Helen Charman
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More of Ruth's books…
bell hooks
“Often men who have been emotionally neglected and abused as children by dominating mothers bond with assertive women, only to have their childhood feelings of being engulfed surface. While they could not 'smash their mommy' and still receive love, they find that they can engage in intimate violence with partners who respond to their acting out by trying harder to connect with them emotionally, hoping that the love offered in the present will heal the wounds of the past. If only one party in the relationship is working to create love, to create the space of emotional connection, the dominator model remains in place and the relationship just becomes a site for continuous power struggle.”
bell hooks

Alice Steinbach
“I suppose that, after the passion of love, water rights have caused more trouble than anything else to the human species.”
Alice Steinbach, Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
tags: water

Hermann Hesse
“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?" That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Martin Luther King Jr.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

Wallace Stevens
“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.”
Wallace Stevens

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