Susanna Kaysen Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Susanna Kaysen Biography

Susanna Kaysen was born on 11 November, 1948, and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her father is the economist Carl Kaysen (b.1920), formerly a professor at MIT and advisor to President John F. Kennedy.  In 1967 she attended the Commonwealth School before being sent to McLean Hospital where she underwent psychiatric treatment for depression for 18-months having been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.  Her first novel, Asa, As I Knew Him, was published in 1987; followed by a second novel in 1990, Far Afield.  In 1993 she published the memoir that she is best known for, Girl Interrupted, that drew on her experience at McLean Hospital.  It was made into a film in 1999.  All her books draw on her own personal experiences to varying degrees.  She published a memoir, The Camera My Mother Gave Me, in 2001.

This bio was last updated on 04/04/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.