BOOKS THREAD & STITCH ESSAYS & ARTICLES READINGS FORMER EDITORIAL POSITIONS

Essays

 

‍ ‍Flash Nonfiction/Prose Poetry

  • Refuge, Ritualwell, October 2024

‍ ‍

‍ ‍ Photography

Magazine (Print and Online)

Shows 

Online

Photography Education

  • Beginning Digital Photography, Intermediate Digital Photography, iPhone Photography, Creative Fine Art Photography - Chicago Botanic Garden, 2016-2022

  • Beginning Photography, Chicago Photography School, 2017

 

Articles

 

Seven Springs:
A Memoir

“A wise, candid, and emotionally powerful memoir.” Kirkus Reviews

One afternoon in the spring of 1972, a Mack truck sped through a residential intersection and collided with a station wagon carrying a young girl and her friend on a ride home from school. The accident shattered the girls’ realities. A blanket of silence fell over them until they reconnected at their twentieth high school reunion. That conversation set me on a twenty-year journey, reflected in seven springs, that reunited me with my past, my self and what I now understand as faith.

Seven Springs is available through Shanti Arts Publishing. Order it here!

 

  • “Barish’s brave memoir reminds us that understanding our trauma can be a first step toward healing. It also is a beautiful story of a blooming faith.” Marcia Meier, Brevity

    One afternoon in the spring of 1972, a Mack truck sped through a residential intersection and collided with a station wagon carrying a young girl and her friend on a ride home from school. The accident shattered the girls’ realities. A blanket of silence fell over them until they reconnected at their twentieth high school reunion. That conversation set me on a twenty-year journey, reflected in seven springs, that reunited me with my past, my self and what I now understand as faith.

    “Lyrically and poetically written, Seven Springs captures the author’s journey of healing as she unpacks the unprocessed trauma lingering in her body and soul from a childhood car accident. It is a meditation on life and death, expression of emotions, carrying family wounds and finding strength and courage in friendships, nature and the Jewish spiritual tradition. So many of these themes resonate with me personally though I know that Barish’s story will carry meaning for readers from all backgrounds and experiences.” Gabrielle Kaplan Mayer

    “In an era of growing appreciation for the long-term ramifications of trauma, Ellen Blum Barish’s memoir offers a tender exploration of the shock and loss around a childhood car accident. Barish traces the ripples of this seemingly simple trauma into relationships, physical health, emotional wellbeing, and her Jewish faith, making of them a heartfelt, engaging story. I recommend it.” —Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, author of Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art & Practice of Spiritual Memoir

    “I was very touched by the story itself, the beautiful writing and the spiritual resonance that was present.” Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg

Read the reviews of Seven Springs in Kirkus, Brevity, Jewish Chicago, Windy City Reviews, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, Jewish Boston, Boulder Jewish News, Tiferet and Rick Bailey’s blog and Jule Ward’s blog. Catch excerpts in Tablet and Lilith.

Listen to my animated conversation with Ronit Plank in her podcast “Let’s Talk Memoir.” Watch my conversation with Miriam Bauer sponsored by the North Castle Public Library and this Facebook Live Author Talk with Jill Howe here.

 

"The Sound of Silence"

At 38 years of marriage, were we a couple with nothing to talk about? A muse on long-term love. Find out more in Storytellers True Stories about Love: Volume 2 (Chicago Story Press).

 

 “Tandem Thoughts”

A tandem bicycle ride in the Netherlands becomes a metaphor for a long-term relationship. “Tandem Thoughts” is one of 25 essays anthologized in Chicago Storytellers: From Stage to Page (Chicago Story Press). 

Views from the Home Office Window: On Motherhood, Family and Life

Essays on raising daughters and balancing womanhood with motherhood.

Available on Amazon
Read reviews of the book

Editorial Positions

 

  • Northwestern University Library’s Footnotes print magazine (Guest Editor/Writer)

  • McCormick Tribune Foundation Cantigny print magazine (Editor)

  • Medill School of Journalism Alumni magazine and online content (Editor)

  • American Bar Association Law Practice Management (Associate Editor)

  • Health Newsletters Direct (now StayWell Corporation) custom health newsletters (Associate Editor)

  • Adams Street PublishingToledo Area Parent News & Ann Arbor Parent Press (Editor)

  • General Learning Corporation Current Health & Your Health Reports (Associate Editor)

  • Rand McNally & Company Mobil Travel Guides (Assistant Editor)

  • Premier Hospitals AllianceTechnology Scan print newsletter (Editor)

  • Medill School of Journalism Magazine Graduate Program Promising Child print magazine (Editor)

  • Smithsonian Magazine (Editorial Consultant)

Thread & Stitch

Thread is an independent online literary publication that I founded and edit featuring personal essays that explore the human experience.

Stitch is Thread’s literary cousin, featuring a collection of personal essays of 100 words or less.

 

I am the founder and editor of  Thread, an independent online literary publication featuring short personal essays and flash nonfiction (Stitch) that illuminate moments of human experience by established and emerging writers.

  • Essays in Thread have been on the Best American Essays Notable list in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020

  • Four-star review of Thread in The Review Review (2016)

Readings

 

  • Lighthouse Lit Fest (Denver, CO)

  • Ragdale (Lake Forest, IL)

  • North Castle Public Library (Armonk, NY)

  • Bookends & Beginnings (Evanston, IL)

  • Evanston Literary Festival (Evanston, IL)

  • Chicago Jewish Authors Literary Series (Northbrook, IL)

  • Story Studio Chicago instructor reading (Chicago, IL)

  • Women and Children First (Chicago, IL)

  • Barnes & Noble (Skokie, IL)

  • The Book Cellar (Chicago, IL)

  • The Book Stall (Winnetka, IL)

  • Blue Marble Bookstore (Philadelphia, PA)

Additional Work

 

  • Scrappy Affirmations

    Let’s Eat Cake and Talk about Death

    November 19, 2025

    Hilarious true tales of Motherhood

    May 7, 2025

    Short Story Theatre

    Art Center Highland Park

    November 2023, May 2024

    Skokie Bike Network

    Tales from the Trails

    July 2023, July 2024 (Hear my story at 7:50)

    Story Sessions

    A Brunch of True Stories

    May 2023

    Skokie Arts Commission

    Love Lost and Found

    February 2023

    Oy! Let Me Tell You!

    April 2022

    This Much is True

    April 2022, April 2019

    Fresh Meat

    November 10, 2019

    Homewood Stories

    December 18, 2018

    You’re Being Ridiculous

    March 6, 2018

    Do Not Submit

    December 2017, August 2018

    Is This a Thing?

    December 14, 2015, December 12, 2016

    Story Club North

    August 6, 2015

    Stories from the House of Truth

    June 18, 2015

    Essay Fiesta

    January 18, 2014

    Story Sessions

    July 26, 2013, October 18, 2015, October 7, 2018

  • Ann Arbor Parent Press

    American Medical News

    Better World Report

    Cantigny Magazine

    Crain’s Chicago Business

    Chicago Jewish News

    Current Health 1

    Current Health 2

    Chicago Parent

    Cleveland Parent

    Chicago Women in Publishing

    Earnshaws

    Harvard Medical Letter

    Illinois Foodservice News

    Illinois Meeting & Events

    Kirkus Discoveries

    Law Practice Management

    Los Angeles Times Syndicate

    Tribune Media Services

    Mobil Travel Guides

    Medill Magazine

    Medical Economics

    Newsweek

    North Shore MagazineNorthwestern

    Self

    Special Reports

    Science Challenge

    The Chicago Tribune Family Section

    The Chicago Tribune Womanews

    The Chicago Tribune Special Sections

    The Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine

    The Chicago Tribune Good Health Section

    The Northwestern Daily

    Toledo Area Parent News

    Writing!

    Your Health & Fitness

    Your Health & Safety

    Your Health Report

    Your Health & Safety Report

  • All essays below were broadcast on WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio

    “Writer reflects on father’s role in fight for civil rights in Chicago”
    January 16, 2012

    “Impermanence and the true meaning of Sukkot”
    October 12, 2011

    “Writer won’t be skipping any Jewish services”
    September 28, 2011

    “Staving off the darkness of shorter, winter days”
    December 14, 2009

    “Finding the real meaning in Passover”
    April 8, 2009

    “The perfect card”
    December 2008

    “A little chat with money”
    April 14, 2008

  • Allstate

    Advocate Health Care

    American Medical Association

    American Bar Association

    American Association of Retired Persons

    American Hospital Association

    Association of University Technology Managers

    Bounty Sampling Corporation

    Council for Jewish Elderly

    DuPont Corporation

    Evanston Hospital

    General Learning Corporation

    Illinois Restaurant Association

    Johns Hopkins Project RESTORE

    McDonalds’ Corporation

    McCormick Tribune Foundation

    National Association of Women’s Health Professionals

    National Textbook Corporation

    Premier Hospitals Alliance

    Rand McNally

    St. Francis Hospital

    Staywell Corporation

    Whittle Communications