Susan Orlean: Santa Barbara Literary Festival

Join the bestselling author and journalist Susan Orlean for a compelling, motivating talk at the Lobero Theater as part of the Santa Barbara Literary Festival. Orlean’s much-celebrated nonfiction work includes The Orchid Thief and The Library Book, as well as her brand-new memoir, Joyride. For over three decades, Orlean has contributed to the literary community as a staff writer for The New Yorker.

In this can’t-miss talk, Orlean will discuss her insatiable curiosity and keen eye for hidden stories—and how she harnesses them to craft bestselling books. From canine Old Hollywood stars like Rin Tin Tin to everyday spaces like public libraries, Orlean will speak to what catches her creative attention. Building from this, she will reveal the in-depth research processes that bring her curiosities to literary life.

Synthesizing a spirit of inquiry with a dedication to craft, this conversation will invite attendees to reconsider their perceptions of the worlds they inhabit and the research they engage with.

Perfect for readers, writers, researchers, and those seeking to rekindle their sense of curiosity.

The Santa Barbara literary festival celebrates the communal nature of storytelling. This talk welcomes folks to step into the shoes of an author who sees the remarkable stories within our seemingly mundane lives.

* Only books purchased with tickets are available for signing. *

Susan Orlean is the author of nine books, including The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup; My Kind of Place; Saturday Night; and On Animals. In 1999, she published The Orchid Thief, a narrative about orchid poachers in Florida, which was made into the Academy Award-winning film “Adaptation” starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep.

Her book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend won the Ohioana Book Award and the Richard Wall Memorial Award. In 2018, she published The Library Book, about the arson fire at the Los Angeles Public Library. It won the California Book Award and the Marfield Prize and was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. It is being adapted for television. Her 2025 memoir, Joyride, has been cited as one of the best books of the year by multiple sources including Kirkus and NPR.

Orlean has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1992, and has contributed to Vogue, Rolling Stone, Outside, and Esquire. She wrote for the second season of HBO’s How To With John Wilson and was nominated for an Emmy for the episode “How to Appreciate Wine”. She was a 2003 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow. She lives in Los Angeles.

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