Shanna Wolf
Jane Rotonda, director of the Wisconsin Book Festival.
Wisconsin Book Festival Director Jane Rotonda, right: 'The festival is continuing its reputation of being representative and accessible for all ages — and it’s free and open to the public.'
This year’s Wisconsin Book Festival’s Fall Celebration will include some big-name novelists, renowned journalists and scholars, and several writers with state ties. In all, 69 authors and poets will be in Madison for 57 free and open-to-the-public events at Madison’s Central Library and a handful of partner venues. The celebration will be held Oct. 17-20.
“The thing I’m most proud of is how the festival is continuing its reputation of being representative and accessible for all ages — and it’s free and open to the public,” Wisconsin Book Festival Director Jane Rotonda tells Isthmus, adding that more people in the 18 to 25 and 26 to 35 age demographics are attending festival events. “Young people are our future readers and writers.”
Rotonda, now in her second year as festival director, unveiled this year’s Fall Celebration lineup during a rooftop “Author Reveal Party” on Thursday at the downtown law firm Godfrey & Kahn.
Here is one highlight from each day:
• An author talk with Leah Elson, who is perhaps best known for her “60 Seconds of Science” web series. But her 2023 book, There Are (No) Stupid Questions … in Science, is still a hot seller with its entertaining and visually appealing Q&A format (Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.).
• An appearance by National Book Award finalist Nicola Yoon. Her latest, One of Our Kind, is a dystopian and satirical horror novel that Rotonda describes as “The Stepford Wives meets Get Out” (Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.).
• Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and part-time Madison resident David Maraniss will interview University of Michigan Law School professor and NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade. She shares how to identify and fight against disinformation in her book, Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America (Oct. 19 at 3 p.m.).
• Best-selling novelist, journalist, screenwriter and children’s book author Lev Grossman will close out the festival by discussing his latest book, The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur, which is a 677-page “reimagining of the King Arthur legend for the new millennium,” according to Grossman’s publisher (Oct. 20 at 1:30 p.m.).
Additionally, 27 writers with Wisconsin ties also will be represented during the four days. They include:
• Jessica Calarco, professor of sociology at UW-Madison (Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.).
• Peter Jest, owner of Milwaukee’s Shank Hall, and David Luhrssen, managing editor of Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express (We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter, Oct. 18 at 4:30 p.m.).
• Marcia Bjornerud, professor of environmental studies and geosciences at Lawrence University in Appleton (Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks, Oct. 19 at noon at the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium).
• Poet and essayist Ajibola Tolase, a graduate of the MFA program at UW-Madison (2000 Blacks: Poems, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m.).
• Former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Meg Kissinger (While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence, Oct. 20 at noon).
Free books will be distributed to attendees at six of the weekend’s events. View the full list of authors and book giveaways on the Wisconsin Book Festival website.
The Wisconsin Book Festival, presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with the Madison Public Library Foundation, offers free, year-round literary events and is on track to present about 90 events in 2024. Novelist Amor Towles drew a festival-record crowd of 1,400 to the Orpheum Theater in April.
Additionally, the Wisconsin Book Festival has worked this year to become a stronger partner of local bookstores, Rotonda says, as well as strengthened its partnerships with UW-Madison’s Program in Creative Writing, the Cooperative Children's Book Center, the Madison Metropolitan School District, the Arts + Literature Laboratory and other organizations.
