Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity

How to begin: Susan Orlean on "The Orchid Thief"


Listen Later

How do you move past that "wobbly moment" in your creative journey? Just move. From the moment she heard about it, Susan Orlean knew she had to tell the story of "The Orchid Thief" – a wild, true story of obsession set in the swamps of Florida. But somewhere deep in the telling, she risks losing her own footing. Spark & Fire follows Susan as she pursues the story that "set her brain on fire," pushing past a creative crisis to write the magazine article and then book that in turn inspired the film "Adaptation." She tells her story in her own incisive, honest and very funny words — with insider details you haven’t heard, and actionable advice for anyone at any stage of their creative journey.

Susan Orlean is a journalist and nonfiction writer who became a staff writer at the New Yorker in 1992. Her works of literary nonfiction include The Orchid Thief, The Library Book, and most recently, On Animals. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/susanorlean

Follow along (with transcript and photos) at http://sparkandfire.com/orchidthief/

Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Spark & Fire: Fuel Your CreativityBy WaitWhat

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

397 ratings


More shows like Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity

View all
This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

91,000 Listeners

TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

21,960 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,812 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,815 Listeners

Planet Money by NPR

Planet Money

30,695 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,597 Listeners

Bookends with Mattea Roach by CBC

Bookends with Mattea Roach

242 Listeners

Economist Podcasts by The Economist

Economist Podcasts

4,166 Listeners

Aspen Ideas to Go by The Aspen Institute

Aspen Ideas to Go

236 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,416 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,511 Listeners

Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

Masters of Scale

3,990 Listeners

Should This Exist? by WaitWhat

Should This Exist?

779 Listeners

Meditative Story by WaitWhat

Meditative Story

3,073 Listeners

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People by Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People

648 Listeners

Rapid Response by WaitWhat

Rapid Response

41 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

29,248 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,938 Listeners

Offsite Adventures by WaitWhat

Offsite Adventures

31 Listeners

Pioneers of AI by WaitWhat

Pioneers of AI

45 Listeners

Good Hang with Amy Poehler by The Ringer

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

10,609 Listeners