Susan Orlean, LARB Luminary Dinner

Los Angeles Review of Books is thrilled to present an evening with acclaimed journalist and writer Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief, The Library Book, and the recent best-selling memoir Joyride. Join us for a night of dining, drinks, and conversation at our Winter Luminary Dinner on January 24. Orlean will be joined by music critic and writer Alex Ross to discuss the inspirational depths of storytelling within nonfiction, writerly life beyond the deadline, and more. Tickets are available here.

LARB Luminary Dinners are a celebration of innovative voices from the creative world. Held in homes across Los Angeles several times a year, each evening welcomes guests for illuminating conversation in intimate settings to support the work of LARB, a nonprofit literary magazine.

This LARB Luminary Dinner will be held at the beautiful and historic Thomas Mann House in the Pacific Palisades, where the award-winning writer spent his years in exile. Cocktail reception for VIP guests begins at 6 p.m. Dinner begins at 7 p.m.

This dinner is made possible through the generous support of Barbara and David Voron.

¤

Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. Following the release of her 2025 memoir Joyride, she is now a New York Times best-selling author of eight books, including The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. Before joining The New Yorker, she was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and at Vogue, and she has also written for The Times Magazine, Spy, Esquire, and Outside. She has served as a judge for the National Book Awards and was the chair of the literary journalism program at the Banff Centre. 

Alex Ross has been writing for The New Yorker since 1993. His first book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (2007), won a National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of Listen to This (2010) and Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music (2020). Ross received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008.

¤

The Thomas Mann House Los Angeles is a residency center and space for transatlantic debate in the former exile home of German Nobel-laureate Thomas Mann in Pacific Palisades. The house organizes programs and events in L.A. and beyond, where innovators, scholars and artists from Germany and the U.S. address pressing issues related to democracy, society, arts and culture. Learn more at www.vatmh.org and follow them on social media @thomasmannhouse!

¤

TICKET LEVELS

All tickets include dinner, presentation, and book signing, and proceeds directly support the Los Angeles Review of Books, a 501(c)(3) literary and cultural arts nonprofit publication.

Luminary Dinner Ticket ($250): General admission for 1 to LARB Luminary Dinner featuring Susan Orlean.

VIP Cocktail Hour: (Single ticket $825; $1,500+ for two): Access to VIP Cocktail Hour and ticket(s) to LARB Luminary Dinner.

Silver Sponsorship Package ($3,500+): Tickets for 4 to VIP cocktail reception and the LARB Luminary Dinner, as well as named recognition during the evening's program.

Gold Sponsorship Package ($5,000+): Tickets for 4 to VIP cocktail reception and LARB Luminary Dinner, priority seating for the dinner and conversation, as well as named recognition in during the evening's program and in printed materials.

If you are interested in donating via check or wire transfer or additional sponsorship opportunities, please contact Emily VanKoughnett at emily@lareviewofbooks.org. Donate to support LARB as a member of our Programming or Publisher's Circles to receive complimentary tickets to the LARB Luminary Dinner. Donations made by the end of 2025 will be matched by an anonymous donor.

Proceeds directly support the Los Angeles Review of Books, a 501(c)(3) literary and cultural arts nonprofit.