Ep. 71: Susan Orlean, How Curiosity is the Backbone of Thought-Provoking and Unique Journalism
Susan Orlean is a journalist and best selling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992 and has contributed articles to many magazines, including Vogue, Rolling Stone, Esquire and Outside. Her early years in journalism made clear that her curiosity spread beyond the bounds of profiles and meetings. While writing The Orchid Thief she did field research in the Fakahatchee State swamps in Florida. The film, Adaptation, which starred Nicholas Cage, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, and Meryl Streep, was based off of the book. Orlean sets ambitious writing goals for herself while maintaining her patient and thorough writing style. In her free time, she gardens and cooks to keep her mind active without duplicating the academic demands of her craft. In this conversation, she dives into her upbringing, passions, the multifaceted success of The Orchid Thief, and the favorite of her written pieces.
More on Susan Orlean
Website: http://www.susanorlean.com/author/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Susan-Orlean
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanorlean
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-orlean
Twitter: https://twitter.com/susanorlean
Books Mentioned
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Show Notes
[00:14] Susan Orlean is a journalist and best selling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992 and has contributed articles to many magazines, including Vogue, Rolling Stone, Esquire and Outside. Susan is a stupendous researcher and writer who has the ability to make virtually any subject interesting. Tricia and I had the privilege of meeting Susan most recently at the National Celebration of Reading, where she read from her most recent book, The Library Book.
[01:18] You know, Shaker is a really interesting community. it's a beautiful, beautiful place. It's also a community that emphasized and practically worshiped education, so the school system was really exceptional. It was also a very progressive community that integrated the schools voluntarily in the 60s.
[02:13] So, I also had the unusual experience in that era of having a mom who worked. And I think that that definitely had an effect on me. I mean, most of the moms I knew didn't work, but my mom, she didn't work full time, but from the time I was really young, she had a job and took it very seriously and I think that was something of an inspiration for me. Or, it just affected me from the time I was very young. The idea that women would work and have a life outside of their home as well as she was an incredibly domestic person. I didn't have a lick of food that wasn't homemade until I was in college. I mean, my mother was a crazy baker and cook and definitely a superwoman in a lot of ways. I don't quite know how she did it. I sort of marvel at it even now when I'm trying to navigate the world between my work life and my domestic life and I think, how did my mom do this? She was amazing.
[07:06] When I started working on The Orchid Thief, which was my book that came out in 1990, I remember going into my publisher and thinking, this is going to sound like a really strange idea for a book, which was I want to write about this toothless eccentric who steals wild orchids. I mean, it sounds very odd, you know, and I said it to my publisher and I watched his face very carefully because I thought, what is he going to just give me this blank stare and say, what are you talking about? But luckily, he said, I have no idea what you're talking about. If you're excited about it, go do it.
[09:16] I've been allowed to follow my curiosity and that's been very lucky and very gratifying.
[11:58] You know, it was fascinating. And I'm thrilled that I did it. I mean, swamps are amazing places with every life form imaginable, and they're pretty extraordinary.
[12:34] I mean, as I was working on the book, it was such an eccentric book. I never for one minute imagined a movie being made from it. And then when the book was optioned, I thought, you're crazy. This is not a movie.
[13:58] My schedule, because I'm writing from research, unlike maybe a fiction writer who might write every day. I would say 70 percent of my time is spent out doing research, reporting, interviewing. So I'm not writing every day. When I'm done with my research, though, I write every day. I have a little writing studio that's just 200 feet from my house. But it's important to me that it's a separate little building. I write from usually about 10 a.m. I don't have a specific amount of time I write. Instead, I have a specific number of words I like to write each day. My goal is to write a thousand words a day if I accomplish that in an hour, which is impossible, but if I were to accomplish it in a couple of hours and I decide, great, I can stop for the day.
[15:41] I've written in an office, I've written in a coffee shop, I've written in the library. I'm really not that fussy about the environment, but I need to have my notes with me. So having a separate little space in my house that nobody else uses, it works really well. But I've written in hotel rooms, I wrote a lot of The Orchid Thief, in fact, in hotel rooms because I was traveling a lot. I actually loved it because there are no distractions. There's nothing else to do in a hotel room.
[19:06] I think that doing something physical, doing something very absorbing, but not intellectual, that's not to suggest that gardening or cooking or going for a run, it, of course, requires your mind, but it's a different-- I mean I love to read, but reading is too similar to writing.
[21:39] Susan, what is your favorite book or article that you've written? And also, what do you consider your greatest failure?
[22:31] It's called “Devotion Road” and it was in The New Yorker. Now, I have to admit, I don't remember what year it was published, but it's also in my collection, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup. And it really combines everything that I care about as a writer.
[23:48] You know, it's funny when we ask about that greatest failure is the idea is that there's tons of failures out there, but some of the best ones are the ones that we learn from and can do better from.
[24:42] Susan, we love The Orchid Thief and all your books, but what's one book you think everyone should read?
[25:55] "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justice now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obliged to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."
Thank you for joining us on HealthGig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.
“I've been allowed to follow my curiosity and that's been very lucky and very gratifying.” - Susan Orlean
“If there's anything that I feel lucky to have been imbued with it's that persistent curiosity about the world, about other people and just what's around the next corner.”- Susan Orlean
“As I was working on [The Orchid Thief], it was such an eccentric book. I never for one minute imagined a movie being made from it.” - Susan Orlean
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