Susanna Styron

Who is Susanna Styron?

Susanna Styron is an American film and documentary maker. She is one of the four children of writer and novelist William Styron and his wife, Rose.

She studied at Yale University, majoring in film studies, and, in 1976, she returned to Martha's Vineyard, where she had spent her childhood summers, to make the film, Suspended Sentence, as her senior thesis. The film is about young people who chose an alternative lifestyle on the Vineyard.

A more recent work, 9/12: From Chaos to Community, recounts the work volunteers performed to support post-9/11 rescue efforts and the camaraderie that developed among them.

Styron attended the AFI Conservatory as a directing fellow; she earned her MFA.

The family moved to Nyack, New York and Ms. Styron began teaching at Columbia University's graduate film program. Ms. Styron based her 1998 feature film, Shadrach on a short story written by her father.