Susan Orlean's "Joyride: A Memoir"

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.

You can listen to Susan Orlean's "Joyride: A Memoir" online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Susan Orlean's "Joyride: A Memoir" is an episode from LARB Radio Hour by Medaya Ocher.

This episode is 54:44 long.

This episode was published on Jan 9, 2026.

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