Ruth MacLeod
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December 29, 1903
Ruth MacLeod | |
|---|---|
 Ruth MacLeod, from a 1964 newspaper. | |
| Born | Ruth Isabel Pickerill December 29, 1903 Hanford, California, US |
| Died | February 22, 1990 (aged 86) Fresno, California, US |
| Other names | Ruth Derby (after first marriage) |
| Occupation | Writer |
Ruth Isabel MacLeod (née Pickerill; December 29, 1903 – February 22, 1990) was an American writer in the romance genre, especially in the subcategories of gothic and nurse romances.
Ruth Pickerill was born in Hanford, California,[1] the daughter of William Oscar Pickerill and Myrtle Sutton Pickerill. She attended Eugene Bible College in Oregon,[2] and studied creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley.[3]
Career
Ruth MacLeod wrote short stories to supplement her family's income during the Great Depression. She sold her first story in 1931. During World War II, she stopped writing and worked for the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Seattle.[4] After the war, she returned to selling "true confession" stories to pulp magazines,[2] and started writing novels in the medical romance and gothic subgenres. "The world is full of ideas," she explained in a 1966 interview, "and the more research you do, the more subjects you find."[5] She also played piano and organ, and was active in church work.[3]
