“Under the Persimmon Tree” Author Speaks at Ranney

The author of “Under the Persimmon Tree” and other novels, Suzanne Fischer Staples, was invited to Ranney School by the Parents’ Association on May 19 to give students in all three divisions a fascinating and enlightening presentation about her experiences traveling throughout India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, often under trying and dangerous conditions. Her travels, the people she met, and the cultures to which she was exposed has served as the subject of many of her books.

Ms. Fischer Staples served as a United Press International (UPI) foreign news reporter in Hong Kong and later, chief of UPI’s South Asia bureau, where she reported news on India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Upon moving back to the United States, Ms. Staples worked at the foreign news desk for The Washington Post, but returned to Pakistan at her first opportunity. While working under a contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development on a literacy project in the Cholistan Desert, she listened to and documented the stories women told about their lives. These stories became the basis for her first novel, “Shabanu Daughter of the Wind” and sequel, “The House of Djinn.” Ms. Fischer Staples continues to travel, takes at least one trip each year to a place she’s never been before. In recent years she has traveled to Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.

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