The Reading Life

This week on The Reading Life: Anti-death penalty activist Tom Lowenstein, author of "The Trials of Walter Ogrod: The Shocking Murder, So-Called Confessions, and Notorious Snitch That Sent a Man to Death Row ," and writer, editor, teacher Kalamu Ya Salaam, author of "The Magic of Juju: An Appreciation of the Black Arts Movement." **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Poet Rodney Jones, author of Village Prodigies, a nd New York Times bestselling novelist Claudia Gray, whose new young adult series begins with Defy the Stars. **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Megan Burns and Bill Lavender, co-founders of the New Orleans Poetry Festival and Small Press Book Fair, coming up April 20-23. We’ll also hear from poet Biljana Obradovic, who has two new books out – "Incognito" and "Cat Painters: An Anthology of Contemporary Serbian Poetry." **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Mary Louise Mossy Christovich, co-author, with Roulhac Bunkley Toledano, of "Garden Legacy ," the latest beautiful book from the Historic New Orleans Collection. We’ll also hear from Tom McDermott, whose new book of limericks is "Five Lines, No Waiting." And Abram Himelstein previews the New Orleans Write-A Thon. **Langiappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Shane Bernard, whose book, "The Teche: A History of Louisiana’s Most Famous Bayou ," is being honored as one of the Humanities Books of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. We’ll also hear from James Nolan, whose new book is "Flight Risk: Memoirs of a New Orleans Bad Boy ," and Kathleen Schrenk, whose first book for young readers is "A Dog Steals Home." **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: John Barry, who’s celebrating the 20 th anniversary of his book, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. We’ll also hear from Candice Proctor, who writes as CS Harris, about her new Regency mystery , Where the Dead Lie.

This week on The Reading Life: A great line-up of authors coming for The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, with NPR favorite Amy Dickinson, whose new book is Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home ; actress and biographer Patricia Bosworth, whose new memoir is The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan; and environmental historian Jack E. Davis, whose new book is The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, a must-read for folks

This week on The Reading Life: Bestselling author Wally Lamb, whose most recent novel is “ I’ll Take You There." We also hear from historian Miriam Davis, author of the Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story , and novelist Martin Pousson, author of Black Sheep Boy. These terrific writers will all be in town for the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival and the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival coming up March 22-26 .

This week on The Reading Life: Jami Attenberg, whose wonderful new novel is All Grown Up. We’ll also hear from novelist Colson Whitehead, author of the National Book Award winner, The Underground Railroad.

This week on The Reading Life: Novelist Meg Wolitzer, who’s the Zale Kimmerling Writer in Residence at Tulane University next week; her most recent book is The Interestings. We’ll also hear from Louisiana native Martin Hyatt, whose new novel is Beautiful Gravity . And I’ll have a review of Brian Altobello’s Carnival in Louisiana: Celebrating Mardi Gras from the French Quarter to the Red River.