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Susannah Cahalan

@suscahalan

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Brain on Fire. The Great Pretender. The Acid Queen. On the hunt.

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From my own patient experience " The Girl at the Nental Stop I, II" to Susannah Cahalan’s "Brain on Fire" — from author to researcher. 📚🧠

My New York conference is now completed, and receiving my certificate marks another important step in this journey.

What makes my research unique is that it begins with my own story: a real patient experience transformed into autobiography, literature, and academic research.

In my presentation, I brought my experience with Cahalan’s exploring how the body can begin to signal that something is wrong before the illness is fully understood as a neurological condition.

Two patient experiences. Two authors. Two journeys of trying to understand what happens when the body speaks before the brain is fully understood.

I am not only studying illness narratives — I am part of one.

The story continues beyond the page. ✨

#NewYorkConference #BrainOnFire #SusannahCahalan #PatientNarrative #TheGirlAtTheMentalStop

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🔈“Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.”

If you’ve ever read anything about the history of psychedelics, the name Timothy Leary will probably sound familiar. He was a Harvard psychologist who researched psychedelics within academia before getting fired in 1963 and taking his experiments underground. But you might never have heard of Timothy’s wife, Rosemary Woodruff Leary.

In the latest Distillations podcast episode, we talk with author Susannah Cahalan @suscahalan about her book on Rosemary and how she played a quiet but foundational role in our early understanding of LSD.

😵‍💫 Tap the link in bio or visit sciencehistory.org to listen now!

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Last night I got to hear Robert Kolker talk with Susannah Cahalan about The Vanishing Family. It was a pleasure meeting Bob afterward, and a real treat to meet some of the family featured in the book and spend a little time talking with them.

Hidden Valley Road helped me realize I had a family story I wanted to tell, so this was a special night for me. I can’t wait to read The Vanishing Family. Wishing Bob and the family all the best.

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Happy publication day, @bobkolker ! And congratulations Bob and @suscahalan on a terrific launch at @92ndstreety !

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"The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Time and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary" is the latest book by this New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and public speaker. It was published by Viking in April 2025.

Cahalan’s first book, "Brain on Fire," sold over a million copies, was translated into more than twenty languages, and was made into a Netflix movie. Her second book, "The Great Pretender," was named a best book of 2020 by Time, The Guardian and The Sunday Times, and it was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s 2020 Science Book Prize.

Her advocacy work concerning brain disorders and mental health awareness has earned her speaking engagements around the world, and she received the American Brain Foundation’s Ambassador Award for this work.

Susannah Cahalan was interviewed at BIO’s 2026 conference in New York City by fellow biographer and BIO member Sonja Williams. Link in bio to listen now! 🎙️

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That's a wrap on "Eye of the Duck" at @fr.moca Sept exhibition: Anemic Triangle. My site specific installation had its final curtain call on Sat. Stay through the credits for a post-roll of flash photo fog snaps. It's coming to streaming as a gigapan zoomable mega-image, so stay tuned!

Thank you forever to FR MoCA for directing this feature presentation, really such a spectacular picture, illuminating moments acting alongside my co-stars @carlcarlsimmons & @chroniclesofshpongle on set at the 44 Troy sound stage.

Thanks to everyone who came out & engaged with my experimental timeline of cinema, pre- & post-. I am so happy with the final cut and all the conversations and stories it has generated.

Support this free and public art space in Massachusetts! Donate at frmoca.org today!

That's all folks! (for now)

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Susannah Cahalan on psychedelics, counterculture, rebellion, historical erasure, and the untold story of Rosemary Woodruff Leary.

From Episode 989, my conversation with #1 New York Times bestselling author and journalist Susannah Cahalan (@suscahalan), author of THE ACID QUEEN (Viking).

🎧 Listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts.

#SusannahCahalan #TheAcidQueen #RosemaryLeary #Psychedelics #Counterculture #Nonfiction #Writers #writing #books #OtherpplPodcast

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I’m very happy to share that my paper “Other Her: Embodied Illness, Neurological Misrecognition and Gender Storytelling Identity in Female Illness Narratives” has been accepted for presentation at the IGAE Congress in New York, celebrated on 28- 29 September, 2026.

In this paper, I explore my autobiographical novel through a comparative literary analysis with Susanna Cahalan’s "Brain on Fire" and "The Great Pretender", focusing on female subjectivity, embodied illness, neurological misrecognition, and the ways women’s bodies and stories are understood—or misunderstood—within clinical contexts.

Sometimes, the body speaks before the brain does. And sometimes, that voice is not immediately recognized.

Through literature, illness narratives, and lived experience, I examine what happens when a woman’s body knows something before medicine has the language to explain it.

📍 *New York, USA*
📚 IGAE Congress
🎤 Academic presentation

A personal story transformed into research, literature, and a conversation about female illness narratives and identity.

#IGAE #NewYork #thegirlattheMentalStop #IllnessNarratives #WomenAndHealth

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Stories have the power to make us feel less alone 💕

Through our Meet the Author series, we’ve had the privilege of sitting down with authors whose books explore illness, disability, resilience, identity and the realities of living with complex and rare conditions.
📖 Brain on Fire - Susannah Cahalan
📖 This Is Body Grief - Jayne Mattingly
📖 Shifting Into High Gear - Kyle Bryant
📖 The Invisible Kingdom - Meghan O’Rourke
📖 The Songbirds Keep Singing - Lisa Lauter

These conversations offer insight, understanding and connection and we’re grateful to each author for sharing their stories with our community.

Missed one? All of our Meet the Author conversations are available to watch on our YouTube channel. Tune in and discover a story that might resonate with you. 💗
www.youtube.com/thesumairafoundation

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I wanted to read two books this week and succeeded! Now on to some spooky books to get ready for Fall tomorrow 🍁🍂
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#bookreview #readinggoals2026 #memoir #medicalmystery #bookstagrammer

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After Timothy Leary was imprisoned, Rosemary Woodruff Leary disappeared underground rather than cooperate with authorities. She spent the next 24 years moving through aliases, countries, and hidden lives.

In The Acid Queen, New York Times bestselling author Susannah Cahalan uncovers Rosemary’s story—and a very different side of psychedelic history.

🎧 Hear the full conversation at the link in bio.

And if you want to go deeper into the history of LSD, join us October 8th for The History of LSD in Seattle at Town Hall Seattle. Tickets → link in bio.

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really obsessed with this custom blonde from today 🤍

she came in really bright all over so I balanced her color by custom low-lighting with her natural which gave her blonde that POP and that dreamy feeling

lived in blonde | providence hair | ri hairstylist | mūni haus of beauty

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