Authors Visiting in Des Moines (AViD) author Susan Orlean joins us on the podcast today, along with special guest host Laura Rawley. Orlean will open the 2019 AViD series as one of the DSM Book Festival's headlining authors. She will be speaking on Saturday, March 30, at 4:00 PM at Capital Square (400 Locust Street). Orlean is the author of several best-selling books, including The Orchid Thief. Last year, her book The Library Book became an international best seller. The book doubles as a love letter to libraries and a true clime exploration of the unsolved 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire.

Discussed on the podcast:

• Orlean on growing up in the Midwest: "I don't think it's accident that there are loads of writers that come out of the Midwest, because there’s a quality of detached observation from the rest of the world."
• On the passage in her book describing the Los Angeles Public Library Fire: "I was fortunate because the fire department kept a log that was just about minute-to-minute about the fire... it was as if I had a highly refined, exact account of hte fire minute-to-minute."
• On the modern role of libraries: "The way that we receive information has evolved, and I think libraries continue to embrace that and be a place – and I think being a place is an important part of this – where knowledge and information is shared and distributed."

More information:

• Susan Orlean AViD Author Page
• AViD 2019
• DSM Book Festival

 

Music credits: "Young, Tough and Terrible" by The Losers / CC BY-NC