Talking Books: Katie Orphan

The book:

Read Me, Los Angeles is a colorful, lively, and informed celebration of all things bookish in L.A. past and present, including interviews with current L.A. writers; day trips in search of favorite fictional characters, from Marlowe to Weetzie Bat; author quotes galore; curated lists of the must-read L.A. books, from fiction to history to poetry; a look at where writers have lived and worked in the City of Angels; and insight into the city’s literary festivals, bookstores, publishers, literacy nonprofits, libraries, and more.

Rich with photographs, book images, and vintage maps, Read Me, Los Angeles is a gift to L.A. from a creative team that includes author Katie Orphan, editor Colleen Dunn Bates, associate editors Katelyn Keating and Julianne Johnson, designer Amy Inouye, photographer Shahin Ansari, and artist Kate Wong.

The author:

Born and raised in Reno, NV on Washoe land, Katie eventually made her way to Los Angeles on Gabrielino-Tongva land via Spokane, WA on Spokane land, where she earned her B.A. from Whitworth University and Sheffield, UK, where she earned her M.A. from the University of Sheffield. She managed the Last Bookstore, located in downtown Los Angeles, for a decade. She now owns her own business, Orphan Books, Inc., and if you ever need help putting together a home library, set/prop library, or a bookstore, she’s your gal.

Her writing can be found on LitHub and the Los Angeles Review of Books, and interviews with her can be found in publications such as the New York Times and Open Skies magazine, as well as with Los Angeles’s CBS, WB, and NBC affiliates. Her debut book, Read Me, Los Angeles published in March 2020.