Want to donate to a fund in memory of Joanne?

Joanne Laxton Memorial PayPal, or send check to Treasurer, RSMA, PO Box 114, Cedar Falls, IA 50613

Welcome to the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association (RSMA) Website

This website is dedicated to the work of noted Iowa author Ruth Suckow and her husband Ferner Nuhn. She was a famous writer with Iowa roots; this website was created by the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association (RSMA) to celebrate her literary legacy, and to help readers find information about her life and work--as well as provide access to some of her short stories.

To read more about their remarkable relationship, go to the page Ruth and Ferner.

Iowa Interiors (1926)

Centennial Celebration

Saturday, September 12th, 1:00

Public Celebration at the Hearst Center for the Arts, starting at 1:00 pm

2026 Annual Meeting, RSMA at the Hearst Center for the Arts, Saturday, September 12th.

https://www.iowaheritage.org/search/index/page/2?query=Ruth+Suckow

Includes 8 of the 14 short stories found in Iowa Interiors. You can download them and read them for yourself.

Since copies of this book are getting harder to find, here is a list of the Contents of Iowa Interiors. You can read most of it online, and we're going to scan in the other stories.

A start in life -- www.ruthsuckow.org/home/ruth-suckow-s-short-stories.
A homecoming – Iowa Digital Heritage (IDH)
The daughter – IDH
The Top of the Ladder–IDH
Mame – IDH
Uprooted -- IDH
Renters – IDH
Retired
A pilgrim and a stranger
A rural community -- www.ruthsuckow.org/home/ruth-suckow-s-short-stories.
Just him and her
The resurrection – IDH (Also on the Suckow website)
Wanderers – IDH
An investment for the future – IDH
Four generations -- IDH
Golden Wedding -- we're sending a copy to the Iowa Digital Heritage archive.

Come back here for the Agenda and more details about our day!

$500 Unit Plan Grant Opportunity.pdf

Cherie lesson plan with Ruth Suckow four small group questions.docx

Here is a very simple example to the right, when I taught Literature classes at Hawkeye Community College and incorporated 'A Rural Community' into the short story unit.

Pictures from the 2025 Meeting. Upper left, The "Nice Girls" Panel. Upper right, Lyz Lenz, speaker.

Upper left, the Radio play version of the ending of Odyssey. Upper Right, Panel discussion on the conclusion of the story.

The Suckow Traveling Exhibit

The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, with the support of Humanities Iowa, is pleased to announce the creation of a Traveling Exhibit celebrating the life and work of Iowa novelist and short story writer Ruth Suckow, who lived from 1892 to 1960.

We launched the Traveling Exhibit on January 1, 2024, as part of the Centennial Celebration of Suckow’s first novel, Country People. Host sites are now being scheduled for 2026 and 2026.

2026

April 12 – May 17 (five weeks) – Gibson Public Library

Libraries that have expressed interest in hosting and received an Application Form

Albia Public Library *

Knoxville Public Library * Montezuma Public Library *

Ruthven Public Library

Visit the new Suckow Traveling Exhibit page