Ruth Bass

A career newspaper woman, Ruth Bass published her first novel, “Sarah’s Daughter,” in 2007 at the age of 72. Her second, "Rose," was published August 1, 2010, a sequel to "Sarah's Daughter." She was born July 18, 1934 in Amherst, Massachusetts, and grew up in various New England communities. A graduate of Westfield (MA) High School and Bates College, she earned a master of science degree in journalism from Columbia University whereshe also received the Tennessee Williams Award for creative journalism.

She has been a police reporter, newspaper feature magazine editor and Sunday editor for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She still writes a weekly column for The Eagle and one year was named by United Press International as the best columnist in New England. She is also a free-lance travel writer, past president of the Bates College Alumni Assocation, a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, author of ten published cookbooks and has worked as an editor at Storey Publishing Co. in Williamstown, Massachusetts,and The Independent, formerly a twice weekly newspaper in Hillsdale, New York. She has won many prizes for writing and editing and a few years ago was inducted into the New England Newspaper Association’s Hall of Fame for her contributions to community journalism. On May 16, 2009, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Westfield (MA)State College for achievements in journalism and the community.

Her first journalism experience came in sixth grade when she created a school newspaper. At Bates, she was editor of the student newspaper and later served as president of the Bates Alumni Association. She has served as a selectman in her town, a commercial bank director, a member of the town finance and health board, and is a past president of the Community Health Association of Richmond and West Stockbridge and chair of the Anita Chapman Scholarship Commitee. She is vice president of the Richmond Land Trust. She was named Woman of the Year by the Professional and Business Women’s Association of Pittsfield and is a recipient of the Charles and Mary Kusik Citizenship Award in her town.

Her first novel is based on a tiny kernel of knowledge about how her grandmother, at the age of 14, faced bringing up two siblings, running a household, coping with her increasingly alcoholic father. “I was a Girl Scout leader for years and became aware that my scouts faced many of the same problems that confronted my grandmother in the 1880’s and decided a book might be in there somewhere.” Since her grandmother did not talk about her experiences as a teenager, the book is almost entirely fictional, although its historical aspect – especially the daily life in a rural community – was carefully researched. The second book continues heroine Rose's story and has little relation to the grandmother's life.

Ruth is married to novelist and newspaper columnist Milton Bass, and the couple has three adult children and six grandchildren. In addition to writing, she finds time for gardening, knitting,reading, golf, tennis, photography and cooking.

In 2010, she at long last finished "The Allens,a farm family in the twentieth century," a story of how her mother, Hilda, and Hilda's ten siblings grew up in central Massachusetts. The 70 or so pages include photos from cousin Marcia Allen's collection, as well as family albums, and came out of a number of tapes made by the siblings, plus odds and ends of family letters, etc.