Suzanne Fisher Staples

Newbery Honor Award-Winning Author Suzanne Fisher Staples Dies, Age 76

Award-winning author and journalist Suzanne Fisher Staples died at her home in Nicholson, on April 29, 2022 from complications due to pancreatic cancer. She was 76 years old.

Born August 27, 1945 in Philadelphia to Robert and Helen Fisher, Staples worked as a news reporter and editor for United Press International in Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, New York, and Washington DC. She later worked as foreign news editor for the Washington Post.

She returned to Pakistan with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to help design a literary project for poor rural women.

Staples' experience with those young women was the basis for her award-winning young adult novels set in Asia. Her first book, Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind, was published in 1989 and earned the author a Newbery Honor Award, as well as several other international and national literary awards. Her follow-up novels, Haveli, Shiva's Fire, Under the Persimmon Tree, and The House of Djinn also garnered many literary accolades. Staples also penned Dangerous Skies and The Green Dog, both set in the US.

Following her time in Asia, Staples returned to the US and settled in Nicholson, PA, near where she was raised on Chapman Lake. She graduated from Lakeland High School, and attended Keystone College, LaPlume, PA before receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA.

Staples worked throughout the world as a writing teacher and mentor, sat on the boards of several national literary organizations, and founded The Gathering literature conference at Keystone College.

The recipient of many awards and citations, including The Margaretta Belin Chamberlin Award, the Keystone College Distinguished Scholar Award, and the Keystonian Award for Outstanding Keystone College Alumnae, Staples was a trustee of her alma mater, where she served as Scholar in Residence, and was a member of the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania.

She is survived by her husband, Wayne Harley, her sister Karen Bifano of Terre Haute, IN, several nieces and nephews, and her beloved poodles.

A memorial service will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wilkes Barre at 11 a.m. on September 10, 2022.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter.