Andrew Feller / Stephen Bartlett
From left: Dasha Kelly, Tara Mulder, Katherine Biskupic, Laura K
From left: Dasha Kelly, Tara Mulder, Katherine Biskupic, Laura Kostelnik Biskupic and Meghan O'Gieblyn.
This year marks a quarter century for the Wisconsin Book Festival. Over the years it has expanded and contracted, gone virtual due to COVID, and returned to live in-person events. It has hosted superstar authors and winners of youth writing contests. Through it all, it has maintained a focus on writers and books with a Wisconsin connection. The Badgerland force is especially strong this year during the Fall Celebration, Oct. 15-18. There’s too much to highlight everything, but here we’ve talked to a handful of authors about their books, from ancient history to contemporary mythmaking, from a Madison memoir to a Milwaukee novel. The full slate of Wisconsin-related events can be found at wisconsinbookfestival.org/event-schedule (search “Wisconsin authors” on the drop-down menu).
God, booze, and the act of paying attention
'Will and Attention' recounts Meghan O’Gieblyn’s relapse into secret drinking after 11 years of sobriety, as well as her equally clandestine return to religion, which for her proved perilous.
Birth writes
‘A Womb of One’s Own’ is a compelling, colorful mosaic of surviving evidence that underlines how “telling birth stories matters — even birth stories that are two thousand years old and fragmented.”’
Behind every great wide receiver…
The book has a Packers family connection with mother-daughter co-authors Laura Kostelnik Biskupic and Katherine Biskupic. Laura’s father, Ron, was a defensive tackle for the Packers from 1961-68.
We are all mysteries
Baker’s Dozen is “a reminder for all of us that we carry something — I call it a smudge on the image of yourself,” says author Dasha Kelly.
Other local authors appearing at the Fall Celebration:
Patricia McConnell’s new book is a who-doggone-done-it
McConnell will appear on Oct. 18.
‘Away to Me,’ a term used in sheepherding meaning to run counterclockwise, begins with a fatal shooting at a sheepdog trial.
Ben Wikler's 'field guide' to save America
Wikler will appear on Oct. 17.
Wikler’s prescription for change starts with Democratic leaders who he says must convince concerned citizens — Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans — to use their personal “superpower” to “unrig” the current system.
