Susan Orlean books

Anthologies

Children’s

Funny Women Write from the Road Reading Order

History Reading Order

Library Science

Non-Fiction

Short Stories/Novellas

Susan Orlean Animal Reading Order

Susan Orlean Biographies Reading Order

Susan Orlean Gardening Reading Order

Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992, where she has written profiles, reported features, and essays on subjects ranging from orchid collectors to show dogs to the meaning of Saturday night in America. Her 1998 book The Orchid Thief, about a plant dealer arrested for poaching rare orchids in a Florida swamp, was adapted by Charlie Kaufman into the Oscar-winning film Adaptation.

Orlean grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and studied at the University of Michigan before starting her journalism career at a small Oregon newspaper. Over the decades, her work has ranged widely. She has profiled ordinary people doing extraordinary things, written about animals with depth and humor, and produced The Library Book (2018), a sprawling account of the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Central Library that became a bestseller.

Her writing is known for its curiosity, warmth, and attention to overlooked corners of American life. Whether she is following a 10-year-old boy through his daily routine or tracing the life of the famous dog Rin Tin Tin, Orlean writes with a specificity and wit that makes niche subjects feel universal.