Susan Orlean is the author of numerous books, including The Library Book (Simon & Schuster, 2018); The Orchid Thief, a profile of orchid grower and breeder John Laroche and the basis of the film Adaptation; The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People; My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere; and The History of Rin Tin Tin. Known for her deep immersion into the subjects she investigates, Orlean received an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2012. She lives in Los Angeles and Columbia, New York.

Carol Edgarian is cofounder and editor of Narrative. Her novels include the New York Times–best-selling Three Stages of Amazement and the international bestseller Rise the Euphrates. Her essays and articles regularly appear in national magazines and anthologies, and she is coeditor (with Tom Jenks) of a popular collection drawn from great writers’ diaries, The Writer’s Life: Intimate Thoughts on Work, Love, Inspiration, and Fame.

Carol Edgarian in Conversation with Susan Orlean

A library is a good place to soften solitude; a place where you feel part of a conversation that has gone on for hundreds and hundreds of years even when you’re all alone. The library is a whispering post. You don’t need to take a book off a shelf to know there is a voice inside that is waiting to speak to you, and behind that was someone who truly believed that if he or she spoke, someone would listen.
    —Susan Orlean, The Library Book

In this edition of Narrative Outloud, Carol Edgarian speaks with Susan Orlean, author of the just-released The Library Book. Susan, who kicked off her book tour with us at Narrative, spoke with Carol in front of a live audience about all things mystery and memory, and the who-done-it of every great story. Join us to hear more about how The Library Book came to be.


Photos from the Event:


And Don’t Miss:

“Narrative 10,” an interview with Susan Orlean

“Crossing Borders,” Carol Edgarian in Conversation with Narrative Prize winner Javier Zamora