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 t ...

), 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 ...

'' 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 n ...

'', as well as in literary journals including ''Orion'', ''Brevity'', ''JuxtaProse Literary Magazine'', ''Seneca Review'', and ''

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

''. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of ''

Bellingham Review The ''Bellingham Review'' is an American literary magazine published by Western Washington University. The magazine was established in 1977 by the poets Knute Skinner and Peter Nicoletta.San Francisco Chronicle, October 1, 2008 ''The Bellingham Re ...

''.

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, contiguous ...

, 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 Cardiac cycle, heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per mi ...

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 The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three different factories: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ott ...

, 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 Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt an ...

debacles in New Jersey, and relates these events to her family and neighbors. Paola's memoir disputes attribution of her afflictions to

genetic Genetic may refer to: *Genetics, in biology, the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms **Genetic, used as an adjective, refers to genes ***Genetic disorder, any disorder caused by a genetic mutation, whether inherited or de nov ...

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 rando ...

chance, or

recreational drug use Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

. Vignettes depicting colossal man-made environmental disasters are woven into her story, accenting the recurrent medical catastrophes she endured, including

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, ...

, 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 t ...

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 Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical ...

, numerous growths on her liver and ovarian cysts that necessarily had to be removed, alongside repeated bouts of

manic-depression Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. The latter condition was treated with

psychotropic drug A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. Th ...

s, 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'' *

, ''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 The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors ar ...

, ''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)

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 ...

, ''

'' (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