The Reading Life

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with Joe DeSalvo , Jr., and Rosemary James about 27 years of Faulkner House Books and 20 years of Words and Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans .

This week on The Reading Life: We celebrate our seventh anniversary show with MacArthur Fellow and National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, whose new novel is "Sing, Unburied, Sing." Jesmyn made history earlier this month by becoming the first woman to win two National Book Awards . Her first book was in 2011 for "Salvage the Bones"; her second, for the brilliant "Sing, Unburied, Sing," This follows winning a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship .

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with New Orleans native son and bestselling author Walter Isaacson, author of a great new biography, "Leonardo da Vinci."

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with poet Eileen Myles , whose new memoir is Afterglow , and Simeon Marsalis, whose new novel is As Lie Is to Grin .

This week on The Reading Life: I’ll be talking with Richard Campanella, whose insightful new book of essays is Cityscapes of New Orleans . We’ll also hear from Susan Tucker and Lee Grue about their fascinating anthology, Mending for Memory: Sewing in Louisiana – Essays, Stories, and Poems , and I’ll have a preview of the Louisiana Book Festival, October 28 at the State Capitol. **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with Morgan Babst about her new novel, The Floating World . And we’ll hear from David Fulmer about Eclipse Alley , the newest entry in his Storyville-set mystery series.

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with John Magill about this new book, "The Incomparable Magazine Street." David Cuthbert and Bob Bruce, who’ve adapted their musical show, "Cinderella Battistella," into a children’s fairy tale Nawlins style, whoop it up. And Susan has a review of Jesmyn Ward's magnificent National Book Award finalist, "Sing, Unburied, Sing."

This week on The Reading Life: Russell Lord, NOMA curator of photographs, talks about East of the Mississippi; Nineteenth Century American Landscape Photography . We'll also hear from Baton Rouge novelist Ronlyn Domingue about The Plague Diaries , the third in her series, The Chronicles of Secret Riven .

This week on The Reading Life: Errol and Peggy Scott Laborde, co-editors of New Orleans: The First Hundred Years, a nd William Barnwell, author of Angels in the Wilderness: Young and Black in New Orleans and Beyond . **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Patty Friedmann, author of Organized Panic: A Novel. Poet Brad Richard, chair of the creative writing program at Lusher Charter School, talks about his passion project, the Scholastic Writing Awards competition, along with readings by Darius Christiansen and Sophie Evans, two of the recent winners from New Orleans. **Lagniappe Audio**