Susanna Kaysen

Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Susanna Kaysen, is the daughter of Harvard economist Carl Kaysen—once an advisor to President John F. Kennedy. Kaysen is the author of several books of fiction and memoir, of which Girl, Interrupted is by far her most well known. Her other books include Cambridge, an autobiographical novel based heavily on Kaysen’s own childhood, and The Camera My Mother Gave Me, yet another memoir which tells the story of Kaysen’s years-long struggle with debilitating pain, and explores the roles that sex, desire, and illness play in life and in society. Kaysen still lives in Cambridge.