WWNO skyline header graphic
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Local Newscast
Hear the latest from the WWNO/WRKF Newsroom.

Support local, independent journalism on WWNO with your Member Fest gift now! Click the donate button or Call 844-790-1094.

The Reading Life with Winston Groom and James Nolan

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with novelist and historian Winston Groom, whose new book is “The Allies, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II.” We’ll hear about U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith’s visit to Louisiana this week, as well as some poetry from James Nolan, whose new book is “Nasty Water: Collected New Orleans Poems.”

Here’s what’s on tap in the literary life this week

Here in New Orleans:

  • The Preservation Resource Center Holiday Gift Market takes place at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1329 Jackson Ave., this weekend; On Sunday, December 9, Alexis Braud signs “Bayou Ballet” from 9:30-10:30; Bryan Batt and Katy Danos sign “Pontchartrain Beach: A Family Affair” from 10:30-11:30, and Emma Fick signs “Snippets of New Orleans” from11:30-12:30.
  • Bryan Batt and Katy Danos sign “Pontchartrain Beach: A Family Affair,” Tuesday, December 11, at 6 p.m. at Octavia Books.
  • L.C. Matherne signs her new young adult novel, “Mystery School,” Wednesday, December 12, at 6 p.m. at Octavia Books.
  • The Garden District Book Shop Book Club hosts a potluck dinner and discussion of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner “Less,” by Andrew Sean Greer, Wednesday, December 12, at 6 p.m. at Garden District Book Shop.
  • The Blood Jet Poetry series presents Fiction with Colleen Rothman and Eric Paul, Wednesday, December 12, at 7:30, at the Dragonfly, 3921 St. Claude Ave.

In Baton Rouge:

  • Mary Manhein signs the most recent in her “Claire Carter, Bone Detective” series for young adults, Saturday, December 15, at 2 p.m. at Barnes & Noble/Citiplace.
  • Jeffrey Marx signs “Walking with Tigers,” Saturday December 15, at 2 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, Citiplace.

And in St. Francisville:

  • Alexis Braud signs her children’s books Sunday, December 9, from 9-5 at Parker Park at Christmas in the Country in St. Francisville.
  • And don’t miss poet laureate Tracy K. Smith’s visit to Thibodaux and Cut Off: Tracy K. Smith discusses “American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, Friday, December 14, from 6-8 at the Jean Lafitte Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center, 314 St. Mary St. in Thibodaux, with a reception at 6, reading at 7.Smith also appears Saturday, December 15, from 10-11 a.m. at the South Lafourche Branch Library, 16241 East Main St. in Cut Off, La.
The Reading Life in 2010, Susan Larson was the book editor for The New Orleans Times-Picayune from 1988-2009. She has served on the boards of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival and the New Orleans Public Library. She is the founder of the New Orleans chapter of the Women's National Book Association, which presents the annual Diana Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction.. In 2007, she received the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities lifetime achievement award for her contributions to the literary community. She is also the author of The Booklover's Guide to New Orleans. If you run into her in a local bookstore or library, she'll be happy to suggest something you should read. She thinks New Orleans is the best literary town in the world, and she reads about a book a day.