Susanne Antonetta is the pen name of Suzanne Paola (born September 29, 1956, in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
),
an American poet and author who is most widely known for her book ''Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir''. In 2001, ''Body Toxic'' was named by the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as a "Notable Book". An excerpt of "Body Toxic" was published as a stand-alone essay which was recognized as a "Notable Essay" in the 1998
Best American Essays 1998 anthology. She has published several prize-winning collections of poems, including ''Bardo'', a
Brittingham Prize in Poetry
The Brittingham Prize in Poetry is a major United States literary award for a book of poetry chosen from an open competition.
The prize, established in 1985, is sponsored by the English Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is ...
winner, and the poetry books ''Petitioner'', ''Glass'', and most recently ''The Lives of The Saints''. She currently resides in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
with her husband and adopted son. She is widely published both in newspapers such as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', as well as in literary journals including ''Orion'', ''Brevity'', ''JuxtaProse Literary Magazine'', ''Seneca Review'', and ''
Image''. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of ''
Bellingham Review''.
Early life
Paola was raised among the
New Jersey Pine Barrens
The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey. Two other large, contiguou ...
, which she later used as the setting for ''Body Toxic'', in one of the most
environmentally contaminated counties in the United States. Paola's memoir merges her personal and familial sagas with historical accounts, politics, and environmentalism.
Career
Paola writes about how the poisoned landscape of her New Jersey childhood devastated her body, causing
cardiac arrhythmia
Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults ...
,
seizure
An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with l ...
s, severe allergies, and
sterility. She recounts the story of the
Radium Girls, details aspects of the frequent
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
and
industrial waste debacles in New Jersey, and relates these events to her family and neighbors.
Paola's memoir disputes attribution of her afflictions to
genetic vulnerability,
random
In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual ra ...
chance, or
recreational drug use. Vignettes depicting colossal man-made environmental disasters are woven into her story, accenting the recurrent medical catastrophes she endured, including
endometriosis, rampant
thyroid
The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...
tumors, a quadruplet pregnancy (without
fertility drug
Fertility medications, also known as fertility drugs, are medications which enhance reproductive fertility. For women, fertility medication is used to stimulate follicle development of the ovary. There are very few fertility medication options av ...
s) that ended in
miscarriage, numerous growths on her liver and ovarian cysts that necessarily had to be removed, alongside repeated bouts of
manic-depression. The latter condition was treated with
psychotropic drugs, some of which are derived from the very same dye chemicals dumped, sometimes recklessly, into the environment of southern New Jersey.
Awards
* Notable Essay, ''Elizabeth'', ''Best American Essays 1998''
*
Brittingham Prize in Poetry
The Brittingham Prize in Poetry is a major United States literary award for a book of poetry chosen from an open competition.
The prize, established in 1985, is sponsored by the English Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is ...
, ''Bardo'', 1998
* ''New York Times'' Notable Book, ''Body Toxic'', 2001
* Spirituality & Health, Spiriturality & Health - Best Book of the Year, ''Body Toxic'', 2001
*
Library Journal's Ten Best Science Books of the Year, ''Body Toxic'', 2001
*
American Book Award
The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...
, ''Body Toxic'', 2001
* NAMI/Ken Johnson Award, ''A Mind Apart'', 2006
*
Pushcart Prize, ''Hosts'', 2012
Bibliography
Creative Nonfiction
*''Make Me A Mother'' New York, NY: (W.W. Norton, 2014)
*''A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World'' New York, NY: (Tarcher/Penguin, 2005) (reprinted 2007; )
*''Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir'' New York, NY: (Counterpoint, 2001)
*''Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir'' (Korean translation, Yeesaw Publishers (Gyeonggi-Do, Korea), 2005)
Poetry collections
*''The Lives of the Saints'' Seattle, WA: (University of Washington Press, 2002)
*''Bardo'' Madison, WI: (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998)
*''Glass'' Princeton, NJ: (Quarterly Review of Literature Poetry Award Series, 1995)
*''Petitioner'' Seattle, WA: (Owl Creek Press, 1986)
Textbooks
*''Tell It Slant: Creating, Revising and Publishing Creative Nonfiction'' (2nd edition of "Tell It Slant: Writing & Shaping Creative Nonfiction") with coauthor Brenda Miller. New York, NY: (McGraw-Hill, 2012)
*''Tell It Slant: Writing & Shaping Creative Nonfiction'' with coauthor Brenda Miller. (trade edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004)
*''Tell It Slant: Writing & Shaping Creative Nonfiction'' with coauthor Brenda Miller. (McGraw-Hill, 2003)
See also
*
Rachel Carson
Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book '' Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental ...
*
Sandra Steingraber
*
Radium Girls
References
External links
Bookreporter.aol.com– ''Body Toxic'' Chapter One (excerpt)
– 'Woman Looks Back at Her Toxic N.J. Youth', Candy J. Cooper (February 20, 2002)
– 'Poison: The author recounts how she was shaped by a girlhood that was, quite literally, toxic', reviewed by
Michael Pollan
Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professo ...
, ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (June 24, 2001)
SpiritualityandPractice.com– ''Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir'', reviewed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
TidePool.org– ''Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir'', reviewed by Christian Martin (2001)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonetta, Susanne
1956 births
Living people
American essayists
American women essayists
People from New Jersey
American women poets
21st-century American memoirists
American women memoirists
Oberlin College alumni
Poets from Georgia (U.S. state)
People with bipolar disorder
American Book Award winners
21st-century American women