At the age of 14, she ran away from home,[8] worked as a printer's devil,[9] and joined the International Typographical Union.
Early in her college career, she and her grandmother ran a small business writing homework papers for football players, wrestlers, and other students.
[11] She also wrote for the student newspaper, the Ohio State Lantern; and was the campus correspondent for the Columbus Dispatch.
From there, she and Eileen moved to New York City, specifically a moldy, one-room basement apartment near Sheridan Square at 14 Gay Street in Greenwich Village, for which she paid $45 a month (equivalent to $970 in 2023) The apartment was burgled within the first week of the six months they lived there.
The apartment would become the setting of a series of stories in The New Yorker, later republished in book form as My Sister Eileen (1938).
McKenney's story collection My Sister Eileen has been adapted a number of times for stage, film and television.
A film adaptation was made in 1942, directed by Alexander Hall and starring Rosalind Russell as Ruth.
In 1955 a second musical film based on McKenney's childhood stories was written and directed by Richard Quine and starred Betty Garrett, Janet Leigh, and Jack Lemmon, featuring all original songs (none of the Wonderful Town music was used).
In 1937, McKenney married fellow writer Richard Bransten (pen name Bruce Minton).
On November 18, 1955, Ruth McKenney's 44th birthday, her husband Richard Bransten committed suicide in London.
They are: She wrote numerous short pieces for a variety of publications, including Harper's, The New Yorker, the New York Post, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Collier's, Argosy, Woman's Journal, Encore, The Saturday Evening Post, Holiday and New Masses.