Links to assorted local theater & book venues

Jim Harrison, who died on March 26th, 2016 at the age of 78, was one of those figures people call “larger than life.” A novelist, essayist, poet, screenplay writer and master of the novella, Harrison dealt in his work with issues such as mortality, illness, living the solitary life, redemption and absolution, work that, as the NY Times obituary said, captured the resonant, almost mythic soul of 20th-century rural America. Among his best known novels were Legends of the Fall and Wolf, both of which became major Hollywood films.

This interview was recorded while he was on tour in 2007 for his novel, Returning to Earth, which revisits characters from his 2005 novel, True North. The conversation was wide-ranging, touching on not only his work but also life in New York after 9/11, the columnist David Brooks, the education system, and life in Hollywood in the ’90s.

Susan Orlean has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1992. Along the way she’s written for Rolling Stone, the Boston Globe, Esquire, Vogue and other magazines. Her book, The Orchid Thief became the acclaimed Oscar-nominated film Adaptation. This interview, which was recorded in October 2011 during her tour for Rin Tin Tin, The Life and the Legend. The Library Book, which dealt with a fire at the Los Angeles Public Library, was published in 2018., and her most recent book, On Animals, was published in 2021. She has also been a staff writer for the HBO show, How To with John Wilson. Over all, to date, she’s written ten books and one Kindle single. Her memoir, Joyride, will be published in October 2025. (Photo: Susan Orlean website)

The post September 4, 2025: The Bookwaves Archive: Jim Harrison – Susan Orlean appeared first on KPFA.