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Susan Sontag

American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist (1933–2004)
Person human Q152824
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Summary

Susan Sontag was born on January 16, 1933[1], in New York City[2]. She died on December 28, 2004[3], in New York City[4]. She worked as a writer[5], film director[6], screenwriter[7], professor[8], and essayist[9]. She ranks in the top 0.56% of human entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (15,385 views/month, #5,579 of 1,000,298).[10]

Key Facts

  • Place of burial: Montparnasse Cemetery[11]
  • Spouse: Philip Rieff[12]
  • Child: David Rieff[13]
  • Country of citizenship: United States[14]
  • Occupation: novelist[15], philosopher[16], literary critic[17], journalist[18], women's rights activist[19], film critic[20], theatrical director[21], human rights defender[22], historian[23], opinion journalist[24], director[25]
  • Field of work: English-language literature[26], history[27], philosophy[28]
  • Employer: Sarah Lawrence College[29]
  • Educated at: University of Paris[30], Harvard University[31], University of Oxford[32], University of Chicago[33], University of California, Berkeley[34], St Anne's College[35], North Hollywood High School[36]
  • Award received: George Polk Award[37], Guggenheim Fellowship[38], National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism[39], National Book Award[40], National Book Award for Fiction[41], Jerusalem Prize[42], Princess of Asturias Literary Prize[43], Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association[44], Harvard Centennial Medal[45], Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres‎[46], MacArthur Fellows Program[47], Premio Malaparte[48]
  • Member of: American Academy of Arts and Letters[49], American Academy of Arts and Sciences[50], Phi Beta Kappa Society[51], PEN America[52]
  • Sex or gender: female[53]
  • Genre: essay[54]
  • Commons category: Susan Sontag[55]
  • Unmarried partner: Annie Leibovitz[56], María Irene Fornés[57], Nicole Stéphane[58], Joseph Brodsky[59]
  • Cause of death: leukemia[60], myelodysplastic syndrome[61]

Product Details

The following facts are restated verbatim from public-domain and CC0 open-data sources — every line is independently verifiable against the named source's catalog.

MusicBrainz — CC0 open music encyclopedia

  • Type: Person[62]

  • Country: US[63]

  • Began / founded: 1933-01-16[64]

  • Ended / dissolved: 2004-12-28[65]

  • MusicBrainz ID: 93161950-5f98-4a51-88d5-9d314b5844a9[66]

Body

Works and Contributions

Things named for Susan Sontag include Sontag[67], a Mercury crater[68].

Why It Matters

Susan Sontag has Wikipedia articles in 28 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[69] She is known by 44 alternative names across languages and contexts.[70]

She has been cited as an influence by Susan Taubes[71], a novelist[72], 1928–1969[73], of United States[74].

Works attributed to her include Against Interpretation[75], a written work[76]; On Photography[77], a literary work[78]; and Regarding the Pain of Others[79], a written work[80]. Entities named for her include Sontag[67], a Mercury crater[68].

FAQs

Where was Susan Sontag born?

Susan Sontag's place of birth was New York City[2].

Where did Susan Sontag die?

Susan Sontag died in New York City[4].

Who was Susan Sontag married to?

Susan Sontag's spouses include Philip Rieff[12].

What did Susan Sontag do for work?

Susan Sontag worked as a writer[5], film director[6], screenwriter[7], professor[8], and essayist[9].

Where did Susan Sontag go to school?

Susan Sontag was educated at University of Paris[30], Harvard University[31], University of Oxford[32], and University of Chicago[33].

What awards did Susan Sontag receive?

Honors received include George Polk Award[37], Guggenheim Fellowship[38], and National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism[39].

Who did Susan Sontag influence?

Susan Sontag has been cited as an influence by Susan Taubes[71].

Related Entities

Annie Leibovitz Joseph Brodsky National Gallery of Art New York City philosophy UbuWeb United States University of Paris Zelig

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [53] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . seventh-row.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  4. [12] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  5. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [31] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  9. [32] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  10. [33] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  11. [34] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  12. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [36] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  14. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [5] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  18. [6] ↑ . seventh-row.com. seventh-row.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  19. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [8] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  21. [9] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  22. [15] ↑ . The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. wikidata.org.
  23. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [18] ↑ . Muck Rack. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  26. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [21] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  29. [22] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  30. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [24] ↑ . The Fine Art Archive. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  32. [25] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  33. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [54] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [38] ↑ . Guggenheim Fellows database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  38. [39] ↑ . bookcritics.org. Retrieved . bookcritics.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  39. [40] ↑ . nationalbook.org. Retrieved . nationalbook.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  40. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  41. [42] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  42. [43] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  43. [44] ↑ . friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels.de. friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels.de. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  44. [45] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  45. [46] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  46. [47] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  47. [48] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  48. [55] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  49. [56] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  50. [57] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  51. [58] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  52. [59] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  53. [49] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  54. [50] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  55. [51] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  56. [52] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  57. [60] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  58. [61] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  59. [1] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  60. [3] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . latimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.

Product details (FDA / USDA / NHTSA public-domain catalog data)

  1. [62] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  2. [63] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  3. [64] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  4. [65] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  5. [66] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [71] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [75] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [77] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [79] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  5. [67] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [72] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [73] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [74] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [76] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  5. [78] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  6. [80] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  7. [68] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [10] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [69] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [70] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Susan Sontag. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/susan-sontag
MLA “Susan Sontag.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 16 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/susan-sontag.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_susan-sontag_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Susan Sontag}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/susan-sontag}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-16}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Susan Sontag — https://4ort.xyz/entity/susan-sontag (retrieved 2026-10-16)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 15d ago · DeltaBot bot · 2026-10-01 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Topic has template → Template:Susan Sontag
    Wikipedia languages → ['af', 'ar', 'arz', 'ast', 'azb', 'be', 'be_x_old', 'bg', 'bn', 'bs', 'ca', 'ckb
    Sitelink count → 94
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Topic has template: Template:Susan Sontag, adding inverse claim"
  2. 5w ago · Xezbeth · 2026-09-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Personality database profile id → 6395
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Personality database profile id: 6395, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/251168282|Susan Sontag (#251168282)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/7421|Personali"
  3. 6w ago · Hannolans · 2026-09-04 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Has works in the collection → National Gallery of Art, Groninger Museum
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Has works in the collection: Groninger Museum, groninger museum ([[:toollabs:editgroups/b/OR/c5a6d992c4b|details]])"
  4. 7w ago · ~2026-46234-03 · 2026-08-27 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Award received → George Polk Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship +10
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Award received: Premio Malaparte"
  5. 8w ago · Mahirtwofivesix · 2026-08-19 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Babelnet id → 00072814n
    P14750 → 3F47-73B2-CCFB-CFAD-554A
    Arabic ontology lexical concept id → 151061479
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||4 */ added/modified IDs mapped to WordNet 3.1"
  6. 9w ago · Lovelano · 2026-08-09 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Video → 2001 Susan Sontag at the San Francisco Public Library.webm
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Video: 2001 Susan Sontag at the San Francisco Public Library.webm"
  7. 12w ago · Susmuffin · 2026-07-23 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Harper's tag → susan-sontag
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Harper's tag: susan-sontag, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/289960947|susan sontag (#289960947)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/7915|Harper's tag]"
  8. 14w ago · Nyuhn · 2026-07-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14541 → 1Al7fm
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/40849|batch #40849]]: ZGBK ID"
  9. 18w ago · Jindřich Rubeš · 2026-06-12 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Svkkl authority id → p0002287-Sontag-Susan-19332004
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Svkkl authority id: p0002287-Sontag-Susan-19332004, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/259493|batch #259493]]"
  10. 21w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-05-18 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Cerl thesaurus id → cnp02165191
    Occupation → writer, film director, screenwriter +13
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/31724|batch #31724]]: import P21 and P106 from GND (18)"
  11. 23w ago · Mondo · 2026-05-09 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Award received → George Polk Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship +10
    Image needs reharvest → —
    Image unavailable reason → —
    Image purged license → —
    + 2 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||0 */ Changing order of values for [[Property:P166|P166]]"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.