This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with New Orleans native Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of “The Revisioners,” a moving tale of lingering racism past and present, and a family of women healers who try to move beyond it. And Daniel José Older, author of “The Book of Lost Saints,” a dazzling novel about Cuban-Americans and the legacy of the revolution in Cuba.

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with novelist Jami Attenberg, whose new book is “All This Could Be Yours,” her first set in New Orleans. And we’ll have a preview of the Louisiana Book Festival, coming up November 2 in Baton Rouge.

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with authors who’ll be appearing at Improv NOLA: A Festival of Ideas. Jules Feiffer is known for his cartoons, novels, plays and screenplays, as well as his most recent graphic novel, “The Ghost Script.” He appears Saturday, November 9. And Michael Pollan, who has written so widely and beautifully about food and nature, talks about his most recent bestseller, “How to Change Your Mind.” He appears Friday, November 8. For more info, check out

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with New Orleans architect Lee Ledbetter, whose new book is “The Art of Place: Lee Ledbetter Architecture and Interiors.”

This week on The Reading Life: Photographer Robert Brantley, author of “Sacred Ground: Cemeteries of New Orleans.” And John Warner Smith, Louisiana’s new poet laureate and author of "Muhammad’s Mountain," "Spirits of the Gods," "A Mandala of Hands," and Soul Be a Witness," with a new collection, "Our Shut Eyes: New and Selected Poems on Race in America," due out later this year.

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with University of New Orleans anthropologist Rachel Breunlin and musician Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, co-authors of “Le Ker Creole (The Creole Heart): Creole Compositions and Stories from Louisiana,” the most recent book from the Neighborhood Story Project.

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with part-time New Orleanian Nevada Barr, whose new stand-alone thriller is “What Rose Forgot.” We’ll also hear from Matt Sakakeeny, co-editor of the provocative essay collection, “Remaking New Orleans: Beyond Exceptionalism to Authenticity.”

This week on The Reading Life: Susan Larson talks with photographer Richard Sexton, whose new book is “Enigmatic Stream: Industrial Landscapes of the Lower Mississippi River,” which accompanies an exhibit that opens this week at the Historic New Orleans Collection. We’ll also hear from Poppy Tooker, host of "Louisiana Eats," who’s celebrating her new book, “Drag Queen Brunch.”

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with J. Richard (Rick) Gruber, director emeritus of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and author of "Dusti Bongé: Art and Life: Biloxi, New Orleans, New York." We’ll also hear from novelist Monique Truong, whose new book, based on the life of Lafcadio Hearn, is “The Sweetest Fruits."

This week on The Reading Life: Sister Helen Prejean, whose new book is “River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey.”