Susan Orlean's "Joyride: A Memoir" episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 9, 2026 · 54 MIN

Susan Orlean's "Joyride: A Memoir"

from LA Review of Books · host LA Review of Books

Medaya Ocher is joined by writer and author Susan Orlean, whose latest book is "Joyride: A Memoir." In "Joyride," Orlean recounts how she became a writer: the strokes of luck, as well as the ambition and talent that led her from alt-weeklies to Esquire, Vogue and The New Yorker, where she has been a staff writer since 1992. Orlean has written essays and books that have since become classics of contemporary narrative nonfiction like "The Orchid Thief" (which inspired the film "Adaptation"), "Rin Tin Tin," "On Animals," "The Library Book" as well as many others. Here she discusses her life and career, her curiosity, her approach to change and opportunity, as well as the state of journalism today.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 9, 2026

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