Robert Fromberg

media release: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts will welcome nine writers in residence at the start of 2026. Marking the fifteenth year of the Winter Writers Reading Series, this upcoming year will feature award-winning Wisconsin writers reading from their work on select Thursday evenings. Shake Rag Alley is excited to partner with Republic of Letters Books, Mineral Point’s independent bookstore, for our 2026 reading series, with additional programming at the Mineral Point Public Library, and Rountree Gallery in Platteville, Wisconsin. Unless noted, readings will be held at Republic of Letters Books, 151 High St., Mineral Point, at 6 p.m. 

Since 2011 Shake Rag Alley has partnered with a number of Wisconsin writing organizations to provide residencies to their annual writing contest winners. For 2026, these organizations include Wisconsin People & Ideas, the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission through the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, Arts + Literature Laboratory. and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets.

From January to March, writers stay in Shake Rag Alley’s inspiring lodging facilities surrounded by the nurturing environment of historic Mineral Point’s artistic community. Visiting writers participate in community outreach activities, including readings, workshops, and school visits. See the full schedule to enjoy the chance to meet award-winning authors during the upcoming free Winter Writers Reading Series. More information available at www.ShakeRagAlley.org/writers-reading-series/ 

Thursday, March 5: Robert Fromberg was awarded the Wisconsin Writers Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award. Robert Fromberg’s books include the award-winning memoir How to Walk with Steve, about caring for his autistic brother; the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award–winning novel Gee, That Was Fun: 7 Days of Mayhem, 1983; and the new novel The Serial Stowaway. A product of Peoria, Illinois, Fromberg moved at age 16 to New York City’s Lower East Side, where he spent his nights at CBGB, after which he obtained a degree from the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers and taught writing for seventeen years at Northwestern University. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.