We can’t wait to welcome back Susan Orlean, the bestselling author of On Animals (2021), The Library Book (Wordfest 2018), and The Orchid Thief for a special celebration of her new memoir Joyride. The ebullient Orlean describes herself this way: “I’m an author, a staff writer for The New Yorker, a dog owner, a gardener, a parent, a frequent lecturer/speaker, an occasional teacher, a very occasional guest editor, a once-in-a-blue-moon movie inspiration, and doodler. I’ve written a lot of books, and even more magazine articles.”
We call her one of our favourite storytellers, whether on the page or in person. And you can see her in Calgary on Nov. 15. (It’s a Saturday late afternoon show, so out-of-town fans can make a weekend out of it!)
The conversation, hosted by journalist Christina Frangou, includes an audience Q&A and book signing.
Our friends at Owl’s Nest books will also be on site with a pop-up bookstore featuring Joyride and Susan Orlean’s must-have backlist. And you get 10% off your book purchase if you pre-order a bundle of two or more books here.
We are thankful to Simon & Schuster Canada for making it possible to connect you with Susan Orlean.
“For anyone who’s asked—and haven’t we all—’How does she write like that?’ this wise and exuberant book is the answer. It’s funny as well. Just masterful.” –David Sederis
Christina Frangou
Lively Conversation
Audience Q&A
Pop-Up Bookstore
Book Signing
Libations Bar
75 minutes. No intermission
Simon & Schuster Canada
Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in Los Angeles.
From the beloved New Yorker writer Susan Orlean, Joyride is a masterful memoir of finding her creative calling and purpose that invites us to approach life with wonder, curiosity, and an irrepressible sense of delight.
Joyride is a magic carpet ride through Orlean’s life and career, where every day is an opportunity for discovery and every moment holds the potential for wonder. Throughout her storied career, her curiosity draws her to explore the most ordinary and extraordinary of places, from going deep inside the head of a regular ten-year-old boy for a legendary profile (“The American Man Age Ten”) to reporting on a woman who owns 27 tigers, from capturing the routine magic of Saturday night to climbing Mt. Fuji.
Not only does Orlean’s account of a writing life offer a trove of indispensable gleanings for writers, it’s also an essential and practical guide to embracing any creative path. She takes us through her process of dreaming up ideas, managing deadlines, connecting with sources, chasing every possible lead, confronting writer’s block and self-doubt, and crafting the perfect lede—a Susan specialty.
While Orlean has always written her way into other people’s lives in order to understand the human experience, Joyride is her most personal book ever—a searching journey through finding her feet as a journalist, recovering from the excruciating collapse of her first marriage, falling head-over-heels in love again, becoming a mother while mourning the decline of her own mother, sojourning to Hollywood for films based on her work including Adaptation and Blue Crush, and confronting mortality. Joyride is also a time machine to a bygone era of journalism, from Orlean’s bright start in the golden age of alt-weeklies to her career-making days working alongside icons such as Robert Gottlieb, Tina Brown, David Remnick, Anna Wintour, Sonny Mehta, and Jonathan Karp—forces who shaped the media industry as we know it today.
Infused with Orlean’s signature warmth and wit, Joyride is a must-read for anyone who hungers to start, build, and sustain a creative life. Orlean inspires us to seek out daily inspiration and rediscover the marvels that surround us.
Christina Frangou
Lively Conversation
Audience Q&A
Pop-Up Bookstore
Book Signing
Libations Bar
75 minutes. No intermission
Simon & Schuster Canada
Christina Frangou is a Calgary journalist who writes about health and social issues. Her stories have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maclean’s and The Guardian, among others, and cover topics like refugee health, domestic violence, loneliness and widowhood. Frangou has received a National Newspaper Award and multiple National Magazine Awards for feature writing. In 2022, she was awarded the Landsberg Award from the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Canadian Journalism Foundation for her work shedding light on gender injustice in Canada.
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Iyarhe Nakoda Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
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