[1] Frostenson is one of Sweden's foremost poets, whose style unites experimental, traditional and archaic elements with a preoccupation with the materiality of language.

Her book of lyrical prose Berättelser från dom (Stories from Them, 1992), about an ancient people who, through the loss of language, lose their sense of belonging in the world.

Her uncle Anders Frostenson was married to politician Ulla Lidman-Frostenson (1910–1962), who was Susanna Ramel's elder maternal half-sister.

[3] Along with a group of other Swedish women poets emerging in the 1980s such as Ann Jäderlund and Birgitta Lillpers, Frostenson's work evinces an attempt to communicate outside of a realm dominated by male writers, focusing on sounds and image rather than a united logos and coherent semantics.

Frostenson's poetry stands out in Swedish literary history for its radical linguistic experimentation through a blend of the archaic and the avant-garde; its focus on the intricate sonic qualities of the Swedish language; its references to classical mythology, folksongs, ballads, and canonical Western literary and philosophical figures; and its general lack of metaphor and descriptive language.

Known first and foremost as a poet, she has published fourteen collections of poetry as well as several works of prose, drama, (creative) nonfiction, translations from French, as well as the libretto for Sven-David Sandström’s opera Staden (The City, 1998).

Frostenson's most notable poetry collection is Joner (Ions) from 1991, which is considered her major breakthrough, a milestone in her authorship and a canonical, watershed moment in the Swedish poetic tradition.

The case would also inspire at least two groundbreaking literary works, including Stieg Larsson’s crime novel Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2005) and Sara Stridsberg's novel Kärlekans Antarktis (Antarctica of Love).

At that time the author of six collections of poetry, Joner brought Frostenson the attention that would result in her election to the Swedish Academy the following year.