• By Kathryn Nesbit
  • Posted Monday, May 2, 2011

Author Shirley Deane to visit Reynolda Manor Library

In 1956, Shirley Deane, a young professional musician, turned her back on a recording contract and TV appearances to work her way around the world. She became the first woman to drive a Land Rover from England to Kathmandu, was kidnapped and questioned by Turkish police, offered a job by the CIA, was cured of asthma by an indigenous doctor in Kashmir, managed a clinic in a Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal, and stood against death threats to write and publish the first ever Who’s Who of Black South Africans. And that’s only part of her amazing story. Without the 24 pages of photographs, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia, you might forget you are reading a memoir!

Shirley Deane was born in New York City and was given her first accordion at the age of eight. At 27, she left the United States to work her way around the world playing her own brand of jazz and classical music. She visited 67 countries, living in Pakistan for six months, Nepal for a year, India for eight years, and South Africa for 14 years. She studied music, psychology and philosophy, attending NYU and the University of Hawaii, and for a brief period studied medicine at the University of Munich. She managed a clinic at a Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal for the Swiss Red Cross, where she also raised funds and taught English.

In 1967, she became public relations officer and fundraiser for Inanda Seminary near Durban, South Africa. She is the author of two previous books, Black South Africans, a Who’s Who, which she published under Dee Shirley Deane, and Wisdom, Bliss, & Common Sense: Secrets of Self-Transformation, which she published under her Indian name, Darshani Deane. Ms. Deane returned to the United States in 1998 and settled in Winston Salem where she now writes.

Kick off your summer reading by joining us to hear Ms. Deane discuss her exciting travels. For more information, phone 703-2960.

Reynolda Manor Library
Thursday, May 26th at 1:00 pm

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