Ed Werstein

press release: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts announces the 2018-19 Winter Writers-in-Residence Series featuring award-winning Wisconsin writers and poets reading from their work and answering questions on select Wednesday evenings at the Lind Pavilion, 411 Commerce St.

Since 2011 Shake Rag Alley, has partnered with the the Council for Wisconsin Writers, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine, and the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission to offer week-long residencies to their annual writing contest winners. From December through April, contest-winning writers and poets are provided with a week of uninterrupted time in Shake Rag Alley's inspiring lodging facilities surrounded by the nurturing environment of historic Mineral Point’s artist community. Past writers-in-residence include Chloe Benjamin, New York Times best-selling author of “The Immortalists” and “The Anatomy of Dreams,” and Kathleen Ernst, award-winning author of the Chloe Ellefson mystery series.

Save the date to enjoy the chance to meet and hear from the following award-winning authors during the upcoming free Winter Writers Reading Series:

7 p.m. Jan. 16, 2019: Ed Werstein, 2017 Council for Wisconsin Writers Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award Winner

Ed Werstein, author of the book “A Tar Pit To Dye In” (Kelsay Books),” lives in Milwaukee and is a regional vice president of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. He was nearly 60 years old when his muse awoke and dragged herself out of bed. His poems have appeared in over 50 different journals and anthologies. He won the Poetry Society of Michigan’s Margo LaGattuta award in 2015.