Centennial Edition: Iowa press revives Ruth Suckow’s Iowa Interiors; exhibition showcases Claudia McGehee art

In 1926, Iowa writer Ruth Suckow published Iowa Interiors, a collection of 14 short stories drawn from the lives of people in the state’s farms and small towns. A century later, the book is returning to print in a new centennial edition from Cedar Falls-based Final Thursday Press, with new illustrations by Iowa artist Claudia McGehee. The Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls is marking the anniversary with an exhibition of McGehee’s original illustrations, running September 10 through December 6. The exhibition is part of a broader effort to bring Suckow’s work back to readers. Suckow was already an established writer when Iowa Interiors appeared. Her first novel, Country People, had been published in 1924, followed by The Odyssey of a Nice Girl in 1925. Iowa Interiors, published by Alfred A. Knopf, further established her reputation and has since become one of the works most closely associated with her portrayals of Iowa life.The beekeeper who became a chronicler of IowaBefore her literary career fully took hold, Suckow had an unusual occupation for a writer: beekeeping. She spent years in Earlville, Iowa, where she managed the Orchard Apiary. A 1930 Time profile described he...