About

I am a writer, editor, and teacher based in New York. I have work published or forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, The Writer’s Chronicle, Hippocampus Magazine, Anderbo, Connotation Press, Muse & Stone, In the Fray, and elsewhere. I’ve just completed my first book, a hybrid of psychology, neuroscience, and memoir. The book* chronicles my attempts to excavate lost childhood memory, to supplement the only two events I remember from my childhood—my father’s death and a house fire. I’ve studied memory from all angles: neuroscientific, psychological, social, metaphorical. Sometimes I sense that I know less about memory now than when I began.

Writing might never sustain me economically. That’s most definitely not why I write. Writing sustains me in every other way. Not only the act of writing, but the communities that celebrate the written word, that celebrate the ways in which people think and explain their thinking. More about why I write can be found here, a blog run by a friend devoted to manifestos for creativity. Four years ago I founded a writing group called Salon Esse. Writers meet once a month to share new work. (No critique allowed! Just sharing.) I’m involved in a weekly workshop that meets via Skype and has been lucky enough to meet in person for a writing retreat. And the greatest of all: Vermont College of Fine Arts. A dreamy place, a dynamic, ongoing supplier of encouragement and incentive.

Before entering the world of writing and editing for adults, I taught elementary school. I’ve also taught an afterschool class based on Settlers of Catan. I’ve taught in a summer remedial program. I’ve taught English vocabulary through music to kids in a depressed central Costa Rican town, even though I couldn’t speak Spanish, despite many efforts to learn. (I still regret that. I still wish I could have figured out how to get my brain to learn the language. But music saved us, me and those kids, probably me more than those kids.) I still focus much of my writing on issues that relate to children and education. And I love being with kids. Now, with two nieces and three nephews, I get to hang out with kids a whole lot.

My husband and I have lived in a pre-war, 700-square-foot apartment near the United Nations for nine years. It didn’t completely become our home until we adopted two kittens. Tiko & Sala are very loving cats—you can read about them over at Cat Fidelity: Life, Through Cats.

Thanks for visiting! Share anything you like. I’m particularly eager to read your thoughts on memory.

Suzanne

*Though I’ve used a working title for years, I sense weird electricity when I type it in a public forum. It’s creepy, so I’ll just say the book. Not even capitalized.