Charlie Barshaw interviewed me about my kids’ books for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators of Michigan. The interview appears today in The Mitten at https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2025/09/writer-spotlight-janet-ruth-heller.html Thank you to Charlie and the SCBWI-MI! #picturebook #middlegradebook #bullyingprevention #self-esteem #solarsystem #siblingrivalry Photo of Janet Ruth Heller by Darren Goodman
My poem “On Using My Mother’s College Textbook” appears in the current issue of Moss Piglet on the theme of Junk (August 2025) on page 31. The editor is John Bloner, Jr., and this journal is based in Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The literary journal Anima first published this poem in volume 7, issue 1 (Fall 1980) on page 18. Subsequently, “On Using My Mother’s College Textbook” was reprinted in my poetry book Folk Concert: Changing Times (Cochran GA: Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) on page 23. Both my mother and I were English majors, and I used her old textbooks to study for my preliminary examinations at the University of Chicago. #poetry #family #lyricpoetry Janet Ruth Heller reading her poetry at the Kalamazoo Public Library; photo by Hedy Habra