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 South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

), 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 winner, and the poetry books ''Petitioner'', ''Glass'', and most recently ''The Lives of The Saints''. She currently resides in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

with her husband and adopted son. She is widely published both in newspapers such as ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

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

Image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

''. 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, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. Essentially, this is anything but normal sinus rhythm. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beat ...

seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

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 radium dials – watch dials and hands with radioluminescence, self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three factories in the United States: one ...

, 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 and ...

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 definite pattern or predictability in information. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. ...

chance, or

recreational drug use Recreational drug use is 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. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an Sub ...

. 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 in which Tissue (biology), tissue similar to the endometrium, the lining of the uterus, grows in other places in the body, outside the uterus. It occurs in women and a limited number of other female mammals. Endomet ...

, rampant

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. It consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by ...

tumors, a quadruplet pregnancy (without fertility drugs) that ended in

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...

, 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, ''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 Awards are 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 "t ...

, ''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 are ...

, ''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 journalist who is a professor and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism and the ...

, ''

'' (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 Writers 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 writers Memoirists from Georgia (U.S. state)