Special Guest at 2007 Suckow Meeting

Suckow Association members were excited to meet Karen Neubauer and her mother. Karen was our most recent Suckow Essay prize winner.

A Suckow scholar, she generously gave us permission to post several of her Suckow essays.

"Interupted Adventures of the Female Experience in Ruth Suckow's The Odyssey of a Nice Girl"

"Feminist Issues of Farm Women as Represented in Ruth Suckow's Country People"

Available at http://www.ruthsuckow.org/

ILA Presentation -- October 11th, 2007

Iowa Library Association
(ILA) Conference




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Cultivating Iowa Authors: Preserving, Planning, & Promotion
A Presentation for the Iowa Library Association--October 11, 2007


Here we are in Coralville last week -- Mike Dargan, Barbara Lounsberry, & Cherie Dargan (upper left) and here is a picture of part of our audience (upper right). Our presentation dealt with the topic of preserving Iowa authors and gave librarians a number of ideas to consider for what to do with books that have an Iowa connection. As part of the presentation, we did a brief reading from Ruth Suckow's short story, “A Rural Community.”


If you want to see the materials from our presentation, they are posted on the Ruth Suckow website, http://www.ruthsuckow.org/ILA2007/

Cultivating Iowa Authors:
Preservation, Planning, & Promotion

Power point presentation (and notes in Word)

Ideas for Cultivating Iowa Authors

Projects for Library/School Partnerships

Iowa Collections: A Foundational List of 50 Texts

Anniversary Dates of Famous Iowa Authors & Books

Iowa Books Available in Multiple Copies (for book groups)

The “Iowa Time Slices” Humanities Iowa Reading/Discussion Series

A Message from Barbara, the Ruth Suckow Society President

Dear Suckow Association Members:

Bill Douglas just sent me an exciting flyer. The State Historical Society and the Iowa Dept. of Cultural Affairs at the end of July started "a new book club with a historical twist."

The book club meets on the 4th Wednesday of every other month at 11:45 a.m.--1 p.m. in the west wing of the State Historical Buidling. 3rd floor. Classroom A.

Here's the reading list:

July 25, 2007: State Fair by Phil Stong
Sept. 26: Splendid Solution by Jeffrey Kluger (about Jonas Salk's discovery of the polio vaccine)
Nov. 28: "A Rural Community," short story by Ruth Suckow
Jan. 23: "In No Time at All," memoir by Carl Hamilton
Mar. 26: "A Son of the Middle Border" by Hamlin Garland
May 28: "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London

It's great to know that the State Historical Society and Iowa Dept. of Cultural Affairs knows about our ruthsuckow.org website and that they are using "A Rural Community" from it--I assume. Let's hope that other Iowa book groups follow suit. (Pass the word!)

We'll try to get all three Suckow stories listed on the Iowa Library web list of texts available for book discussions. If you haven't looked at this list, the website is: http://www.ilsa.lib.ia.us/bkdisc_author.htm

In the meantime, if the weather is nice Nov. 28--and why shouldn't it?--I plan to drive down to Des Moines for the discussion of "A Rural Community." I'll bring membership forms. Would anyone like to join me? My van seats 6.

Hope you are enjoying this glorious fall.

Barbara LounsberryPhone: 319-939-6513

Annual Meeting in Earlville Iowa

Our annual meeting took place this past weekend in Earlville, Iowa. Sixteen people were in attendance. We started off at the Earlville Public Library, which is also known as the Ruth Suckow Memorial Library. One of the things that I love about this place is the back corner, which has a display of Ruth's books and photos. After our business meeting, we went over to a nearby church for lunch, where we discussed the book (Odyssey of a Nice Girl) and visited with our essay contest winner, Karen Neubauer.

Annual Meeting--June 9th 2007

Please join us for the annual meeting Saturday, June 9 in Earville at the Suckow Memorial Library on Main Street. Business meeting begins at 10 a.m. Lunch at noon followed by discussion of Suckow's second novel "The Odyssey of a Nice Girl" led by Dr. George Day.