From New Yorker staff writer and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief, The Library Book) comes Joyride—a masterful memoir about finding creative purpose and approaching life with curiosity, wonder, and delight.

“The story of my life is the story of my stories,” Orlean writes in this extraordinary memoir that charts her evolution as one of the most celebrated narrative nonfiction writers of our time. Whether profiling a ten-year-old boy, chronicling a woman with twenty-seven tigers, or climbing Mt. Fuji, Orlean follows her obsessions to surprising places—always illuminating the universal through the specific.

Part memoir, part practical guide, Joyride reveals the joys and struggles of a creative life: where story ideas come from, how to navigate writer’s block, manage deadlines, build trust with sources, and write a great lede. Writers and creatives of all kinds will find encouragement and insight in Orlean’s honest account of chasing inspiration.
But Joyride is also her most personal book to date—a candid journey through the heartbreak of divorce, the joy of falling in love again, becoming a mother while losing her own, and navigating Hollywood adaptations of her work. Along the way, she brings readers inside a golden era of journalism, shaped by titans like Tina Brown, David Remnick, Robert Gottlieb, Anna Wintour, and Sonny Mehta.

With Orlean’s trademark warmth and wit, Joyride is a dazzling reflection on writing, reinvention, and the power of curiosity. It’s a joyful reminder that stories—whether we write them or live them—are how we make sense of the world."