Gold, August 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born February 26, 1955.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY; CT. Office—Sacred Center NY, 330 W. 38th St., Ste. 704, New York, New York 10018. E-mail—info@sacredcenterny.org.

CAREER:

Writer, minister, administrator, educator, broadcaster, and public speaker. Sacred Center New York, New York, NY, cofounder, senior minister, and spiritual director. Interfaith minister, 1989—. Guest on television programs, including A New Day, Hallmark Channel. Host of weekly radio program in New York, NY, area. Speaker at corporations, churches, and other organizations.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Independent Publishers Book Award for Most Inspirational Book for Children for Where Does God Live?

WRITINGS:

(With Joel Fotinos) The Prayer Chest: A Novel about Receiving All of Life's Riches, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2007.

FOR YOUNGER READERS

(With Matthew J. Perlman) Where Does God Live?, SkyLight Paths (Woodstock, VT), 2001.

Does God Hear My Prayer?, photo illustrations by Diane Hardy Waller, SkyLight Paths (Woodstock, VT), 2005.

Does God Forgive Me?, photo illustrations by Diane Hardy Waller, SkyLight Paths (Woodstock, VT), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

August Gold is a prolific writer, interfaith minister, spiritual leader, and public speaker. Ordained in 1989, Gold is a cofounder of the Sacred Center for Spiritual Living in New York, NY, where she also serves as senior minister and spiritual director. Her teaching combines both Western religious practices and ancient Eastern spiritual ideas, such as those found in the Tao te Ching, according to a biographer on the Sacred Center New York Web site. She is a frequent speaker at corporate events, conventions, churches, spiritual centers, and other gatherings around the country, and regularly appears on the television program A New Day, broadcast on the Hallmark Channel. Gold has also developed her own trademarked educational system, called Soul-Work, which allows her to extend her ministry and provide enriching spiritual teachings to her clients and listeners. As a teacher and spiritual counselor, Gold "weaves exciting ideas and concepts with practical tools to give audiences a fresh approach to life," commented the Sacred Center New York Web site biographer.

Gold is the author of a series of religious books for younger audiences. Designed for readers between three and six years old, the books address some basic questions about God, prayer, and spirituality in a multicultural and nondenominational context. In Where Does God Live?, written with Matthew J. Perlman, Gold addresses a child's reasonable curiosity about God's home place, and offers a lesson that teaches God and the divine can be found everywhere and in everything. Gold and Perlman address, in an accessible way, the seeming contradiction in not being able to view God directly, but to see Him and His works in all things through emotional feelings and spiritual acceptance. "Hats off to Gold and Perlman for this delightful and wonder-filled tribute to seeing with the heart that God lives in and all around us," commented reviewers Frederic Brussat and Mary Ann Brussat, writing on the Spirituality and Practice Web site. Ilene Cooper, writing in Booklist, called the book "a sweet, safe place to start a conversation about God."

Does God Hear My Prayer? contains Gold's explanation of prayer for children in a book that "manages to hit some issues that children think about when it comes to prayer," remarked Booklist reviewer Cooper. Gold comments on the source of prayers, and whether they are made up by each person or read from books. Using a child's unfulfilled prayer for a new bicycle as a springboard for discussion, she comments on why some prayers are answered and some are not. She also offers wisdom and advice on what to do after praying, and how and when to start listening for God's answers. Continuing her series of children's religious books, in Does God Forgive Me?, Gold "covers the essentials of forgiveness and makes it relevant to those who are ages three through six years," commented Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in another Spirituality and Practice Web site review.

With Joel Fotinos, Gold is also the author of the inspirational novel for adults The Prayer Chest: A Novel about Receiving All of Life's Riches. The book's protagonist, Joseph Hutchinson, is a late nineteenthcentury farmer on Long Island. Hardworking, spiritually earnest, married and the father of two young children, he dreads the apparent family curse that seemingly kills the males of his lineage while still in their twenties. He finds respite from his worries in the attic of his house, a comforting space that helps to soothe his concerns and where his prayers seem to find a receptive audience. When his wife, Miriam, dies of pneumonia, he becomes bitter and turns away from the attic and his spirituality. Joseph is saddled with debt, wracked with guilt over unresolved feelings for neighbor Grace, and concerned for his children's welfare; his life is bleak until he discovers an unusual chest filled with slips of paper and a notebook. Through the agency of this prayer chest, Joseph reconnects with his religious life and learns the enduring secrets of sincere prayer. A Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded, "This easy, inspirational read will warm the hearts of seekers everywhere."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2001, Ilene Cooper, review of Where Does God Live?, p. 334; April 1, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Does God Hear My Prayer?, p. 1362.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007, review of The Prayer Chest: A Novel about Receiving All of Life's Riches.

Publishers Weekly, July 9, 2007, review of The Prayer Chest, p. 27.

School Library Journal, July, 2005, Linda L. Walkins, review of Does God Hear My Prayer?, p. 89.

ONLINE

Sacred Center New York Web site,http://www.sacredcenterny.org/ (May 7, 2008), author biography.

Spirituality and Practice,http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (May 7, 2008), Frederic Brussat and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Where Does Got Live?; Frederic Brussat and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Does God Forgive Me?