They put the Wisco in the Wisconsin Book Festival

27 writers with state ties will present during the four-day event

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Every year, the Wisconsin Book Festival’s Fall Celebration brings authors with state ties to Madison. Of the 69 writers slated to appear Oct. 17-20 at 57 free and open-to-the public events, no fewer than 27 of them live or grew up in Wisconsin, attended UW-Madison, or are somehow otherwise connected to the Badger State. They include novelists, journalists, scholars and poets, and their work spans suspense, fantasy, memoir, local history, environmental literature and more.

“It’s fun to have the big names, but it’s also amazing that we can support the talent that exists in this state,” Wisconsin Book Festival director Jane Rotonda tells Isthmus. 

Rotonda, now in her second year as festival director, says the fest is attracting more people in the 18-25 and 26-35 age demographics to events, while also becoming a stronger partner of local bookstores. The festival is also working closely 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.

Here are some highlights from among the writers with Wisconsin connections who will be in town. All events are at the Central Library unless otherwise noted.

Zara Chowdhary 

The UW-Madison lecturer and author of The Lucky Ones will be part of a panel featuring debut Asian memoirists that also includes Tessa Hulls and Margaret Juhae Lee. (Oct. 17 at 5:30 p.m.)

Jessica Calarco

For her new book, Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net, the UW-Madison associate professor of sociology surveyed more than 4,000 parents and conducted more than 400 hours of interviews with women. (Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.) 

James Lattis and Kelly Tyrrell 

Chasing the Stars: How the Astronomers of Observatory Hill Transformed Our Understanding of the Universe chronicles the historical impact of UW-Madison’s Washburn Observatory. Lattis helps manage the observatory, and Tyrrell is a science writer who oversees media relations at UW-Madison. (Oct. 18 at 4 p.m., UW-Madison Discovery Building) 

Peter Jest and David Luhrssen 

Jest is a longtime Milwaukee music promoter who opened Shank Hall in 1989, and Luhrssen is the managing editor of Shepherd Express, Milwaukee’s alternative newspaper. Jest teamed up with Milwaukee Public Library reference librarian Amy T. Waldman to write We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter; Luhrssen wrote the foreword. All attendees will receive a free copy. (Oct. 18 at 4:30 p.m.) 

Dan Kois

The former Whitefish Bay resident now lives in Arlington, Va., but his new horror/comedy/coming-of-age novel Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is set in the title’s real-life neighborhood on a winter evening in 1987. (Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.) 

Danez Smith 

The award-winning poet was a First Wave Urban Arts Scholar at UW-Madison and now lives in Minneapolis. Their newest collection is Bluff, which has been called “a kind of manifesto about artistic resilience.” All attendees will receive a free copy. (Oct. 18 at 9 p.m.) 

Geo Rutherford

An adjunct professor at the UW-Milwaukee, Rutherford is both author and illustrator of Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet, which blends her love of history, art and science. (Oct. 19 at 10:30 a.m., Wisconsin Historical Society) 

Marsha Bjornerud

The cleverly titled Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks is the latest geological-themed book from the professor of environmental studies and geosciences at Lawrence University in Appleton. Bjornerud draws lightly on her own autobiography as she details how and where she encountered different kinds of rocks, before delving more deeply into the science. (Oct. 19 at noon, Wisconsin Historical Society) 

Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz 

With a master of fine arts in creative writing from UW-Madison, Lowry, a Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina member, spent seven years in the Obama Administration working on homelessness and Native policy issues. Her new book is The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America. (Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m.)

Nghi Vo

The Hugo Award winner lives “on the shores of Lake Michigan,” and The City in Glass, her newest fantasy novel about an angel and demon battling for the soul of a city, is a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Fall 2024 Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror pick. (Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m.) 

Barrett Klein

He spearheaded the Pupating Lab at UW-La Crosse and wrote The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture. (Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society) 

Catherine Jagoe and Heather Swan 

Jagoe is a poet and essayist; Swan teaches writing and environmental literature at UW-Madison. They will discuss their recent books — Jagoe’s Praying to the God of Small Things, poems haunted by climate change; and Swan’s Where the Grass Still Sings, an up-close look at threatened insects and the artists who are inspired by them. (Oct. 19 at 3 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society)

Alison Thumel, J.L. Conrad and Cynthia Hoffman

Hoffman and Conrad live in Madison, and Thumel completed her master of fine arts in poetry at UW-Madison. All three will read from their new poetry collections. (Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m.) 

Jane Conway and Randi Julia Ramsden 

These two collaborated on multiple Wisconsin Historical Society projects and co-authored Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! Recipes and Culinary Curiosities from Historic Wisconsin Newspapers. (Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society) 

Ajibola Tolase 

The poet and essayist is a graduate of the MFA program at UW-Madison, and his collection, 2000 Blacks: Poems, probes the complexities of economic and politically motivated migration from Africa. (Oct. 19 at 6 p.m.) 

Meg Kissinger

The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting finalist covered mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for more than two decades. Her eagerly anticipated first book, While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence, is a candid portrait of one family’s struggle. (Oct. 20 at noon)