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Susan Orlean

Susan Orlean
Susan orlean 2011.jpg
Susan Orlean at the 2011 Texas Book Festival.
Born Susan Orlean
(1955-10-31) October 31, 1955 (age 61)
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Occupation Journalist, Author
Nationality American
Education University of Michigan
Spouse Peter Sistrom (1983–1999)
John William Gillespie, Jr. (2001–)
Children Austin Gillespie
Website
www.susanorlean.com

Susan Orlean (born October 31, 1955) is an American journalist and author. 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.

She is best known as the author of the 1998 book The Orchid Thief, which was adapted into the film Adaptation (2002). Meryl Streep received an Academy Award nomination for her performance as Orlean.

Orlean was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Edith (née Gross 1923-2016) and Arthur Orlean (1915-2007). She has a sister, Debra, and a brother, David. Her family is Jewish. Her mother's family is from Hungary and her father's family from Poland. Her father was an attorney and businessman.

She graduated from the University of Michigan, studying literature and history. After college she moved to Portland, Oregon, and was planning on going to law school, when she began writing for the Willamette Week. She married lawyer Peter Sistrom in 1983, and they divorced after 16 years of marriage. She was introduced by a friend to author and businessman John Gillespie, whom she married in 2001, and she gave birth to their son Austin in 2004. She is also step-mother to John's son from his previous marriage, Jay Gillespie.

She later went on publishing stories in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vogue, Outside and Spy. In 1982, she moved to Boston and became a staff writer for the Boston Phoenix and later a regular contributor to the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. Her first book, Saturday Night, was published in 1990, shortly after she moved to New York and began writing for The New Yorker magazine. She became a New Yorker staff writer in 1992.


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