Susan Burton's writing has appeared in Slate, Mother Jones, New York, the New Yorker, and the New York Times Magazine. She is a former editor of Harper's and a former producer of This American Life. Her radio documentaries have won several awards, including an Overseas Press Club citation, and she received a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to do stories about teenagers. She is the co-author, with Hyder Akbar, of Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager’s Story, which was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.