When I began to organize and create Persimmon Tree in 2006, I spent months searching for a good name. I knew it had to be dignified and accessible so that it would set the right tone for the magazine. Cute or soppy names wouldn’t do because the reason for the magazine was to honor the creativity and talent of women over sixty, a serious matter in my mind.

One late autumn day I was looking out my window at my neighbor’s garden and noticed a tree with large globes of beautiful orange fruit hanging on its bare branches. It was a persimmon tree. The fruit trees around it, wild plum, apple, and apricot, had long ago dropped their fruit, and there was just this one left in its full glory.

I was struck by the sight and began to think that the persimmon tree was the perfect image for the magazine. Some of the writers, poets, and artists we published would be well-known, but many would just be beginning to get their work into the world. And the persimmon tree embodied this, standing alone with its beautiful, late-appearing fruit, producing its harvest on its own timetable.