Susanna Kaysen is an American author, best known for her memoir Girl, Interrupted. The book was adapted into a 1999 film of the same name, starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. Kaysen was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1948. She attended Harvard University, where she studied English and American literature. After graduating, she worked as a freelance writer and editor. In 1967, Kaysen was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and admitted to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. She spent 18 months in the hospital, during which time she wrote her memoir. Girl, Interrupted was published in 1993 and was a critical and commercial success. It was a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for a National Book Award. Kaysen has since written several other books, including the novels Asa, As I Knew Him and Far Afield, and the non-fiction work Cambridge. She has also written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications. Kaysen is an advocate for mental health awareness and has spoken publicly about her own experiences with mental illness. She continues to write and speak about mental health issues, and her work has been praised for its insight and candor.