This week on The Reading Life: Bestselling crime novelist Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski series and this year's winner of the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction for a Distinguished Body of Work , who's coming for Bouchercon, the great mystery writers and fans convention taking place next weeke nd.

This week on The Reading Life: Writers and activists Haki Madhubuti (publisher of Third World Press) and Ishmael Reed (author of "Shrovetide in Old New Orleans" and "Mumbo Jumbo"). They are among the headliners at this weekend’s Black Arts Movement 2016 conference at Dillard University. We’ll also hear from Ken Foster, celebrating ten years of his book, The Dogs Who Found Me .

This week on The Reading Life: Poet Alison Pelegrin, whose new book is "Waterlines." We’ll have a visit with Doug Keller and Ashley Teamer of Big Class, the city-wide writing initiative. Then Sisira Holbrook, Allison Flemington, Emma Rioux, and illustrator Kara Daveron , 7 th graders at Lusher Charter School, tell us about publishing the Harry Potter newspaper the Quibbler .

This week on The Reading Life: Lara Naughton, author of The Jaguar Man : A Memoir, and Peyton Burgess, author of The Fry Pans Aren’t Sufficing. **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Jack McGuire, author of Win the Race or Die Trying: Uncle Earl’s Last Hurrah. And Susan will have a review of Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn.

This week on The Reading Life: Elda Rotor, vice president and publisher of Penguin Classics, and Paul Buckley, creative director for Penguin Classics. They’re celebrating the line's 70 th anniversary with a gorgeous book, Classic Penguin: Cover to Cover.

This week on The Reading Life: Poet Nicole Eiden, whose new collection is I Am One of You. We’ll also hear from Chris Smith, who’s putting together the Second Annual Jefferson Parish Library Literary Festival, the Mystery Writers/ Readers Festival August 6 . And Susan has some historical fiction - The Muse , by Jessie Burton and Leaving Lucy Pear , by Anna Solomon - for your beach bag.

This week on The Reading Life: LSU historian Nancy Isenberg, author of the bestseller,White Trash: The 400 Year Untold History of Class in America , and Megan Abbott, whose novel about a young gymnast with Olympic hopes, You Will Know Me, is topping the list of summer must-reads. Also, Susan will review some cold books for the summer heat.

This week on The Reading Life: Rising star of Mexican fiction and New Orleanian Yuri Herrera, whose new novel is Transmigration of Bodies, and Kerry Hamilton, who’s the ambassador his great grandmother’s book, Trials of the Earth The True Story of a Pioneer Woman by Mary Mann Hamilton. And Susan reviews Lionel Shriver’s The Mandibles, 2029-2047.

This week on The Reading Life: William Barnwell, whose new book is "Called to Heal the Broken-Hearted: Stories from Kairos Prison Ministry International." And we’ll hear about lawyer Tad Bartlett’s unusual path to publication with the novella, "Marchers’ Season."