Miriam Kook

Miriam Kook grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, NY in the 1960s and started playing the piano at the age of four, and writing her own songs and musicals soon thereafter. She cannot remember a time in her life when she was not involved in some creative endeavor. In writing her memoir, "The Long Way Home: Father Lost, Father Found", she turns her writing skills to exploring the childhood events, starting with the early and sudden death of her beloved father, that led to the most important moment of her life, her spiritual awakening. As a Jewish woman, her spiritual search led her down many unusual paths which she chronicles with humor and pathos.

She is passionate about songwriting, directing and acting in community theater, leading worship, friendships and family. Kook wrote her memoir so that all may know that God’s arm is not too short to save and that his love is limitless.

Kook lives in Maryland with her husband, Doug. Together, they have three children and four grandchildren with one on the way. She recently retired from 31 years at a government job and has hit the ground running on numerous projects such as music directing a local production of "The Lion King", co-writing a musical about adoption, and writing the sequel to her memoir which documents the years that followed her wedding to Doug. This sequel promises to tell the story of two Jewish kids from New York City who, after sowing all kinds of wild oats during their freshman year of college, were propelled into this new faith which was very different from the one in which they had been raised. While they now had someone on their side who was dedicated to seeing them through all the many dangers, toils, and snares that were soon to confront them, it was going to be an uphill climb.