Susan Linn

Founding Director, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (Now called Fairplay), Lecturer on psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Susan Linn, Ed.D, is an author, an award-winning ventriloquist, a psychologist, and a long-time advocate for children. She is Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and is especially proud of serving as Founding Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (Now called Fairplay) from 2000 to 2015.  Her book, Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, was praised in publications as diverse as The Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones, and helped launch the movement to reclaim childhood from corporate marketers. The Boston Globe called her book The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World, “a wonderful look at how play can heal children.” Who’s Raising the Kids? Big Tech, Big Business and the Lives of Children will be available from The New Press in September, 2022.  Dr. Linn’s work has been featured on Good Morning America, Today, Sixty Minutes, Dateline, The Colbert Report, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the acclaimed documentary The Corporation.

Dr. Linn is internationally known for her innovative work using puppets in child psychotherapy. She gives talks around the world on the importance of creative play, the impact of tech, media and marketing on children, and the use of puppetry as a therapeutic tool. She has written and appeared in a number of video programs designed to help children cope with difficult life issues ranging from illness and hospitalization to homelessness and racism. This Secret Should Be Told, a television program for children about sexual abuse won a coveted ACT award and a New England Emmy Award.  With Fred Rogers’ production company, she created the acclaimed educational video series Different and the Same: Helping Children Identify and Prevent Prejudice. This collection of nine videos won numerous awards, including the two top prizes from the International Communication Film and Video Competition and the Media Award from the Association of Multicultural Educators.

Among other honors, Dr. Linn received an UNIMA-USA citation for excellence, a special award for puppet therapy from Puppeteers of America; A Champion of Freedom Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center; The Creative Leadership Award from the Puppet Showplace Theater: and a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association for her work on behalf of children.