Meet the Author, Suzanne Ross

 I grew up in New Jersey, got my BA in sociology from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, and have either been writing or involved in education for most of my adult life. 

Since college, I have taken a variety of writing workshops and studied the art of fiction and editing.  When my children were young and in Montessori classrooms, I became certified as a Montessori pre-school directress and thoroughly enjoyed my years as a teacher. 

Three to six year olds are my favorite age group! More lucrative, but not half as fun, was the time I spent as a training consultant for business, writing manuals covering everything from personnel policy to how to change a tire.  During all these years, I was always the kind of person who questions things. 

I read a lot and study on my own, mostly theologians, because I have a lot of spiritual questions like:  What does it mean to be human and what is the meaning and purpose of life? I am troubled by violence and hatred and wonder if these things are fixed human traits or if there is hope that the suffering of war and cruelty can end. When I came across the work of Rene Girard in 1997, I realized that I had found a way of understanding the world that not only explained the origin of conflict, but offered clues as to how to move away from a culture of violence.  And then I saw Wicked!