Wisconsin Book Festival

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Some of the nonfiction titles highlighted in the 2021 Wisconsin Book Festival Fall Celebration weekend.

This year’s Wisconsin Book Festival is a hybrid of virtual and in-person events, with the live events clustered in Madison on Oct. 23 at the Central Library and the Discovery Building. Diversity and current events are key topics throughout. Those in-person events lead in to the virtual plenary address at 11 a.m. on Oct. 24 by popular science writer Mary Roach, who has turned in a tour de force in which she investigates what happens when animals break the law — including murder, aggravated assault and home invasion, but also petty crimes like littering and vandalism. Roach promises to entertain. See the full schedule at wisconsinbookfestival.org or peruse our listings here.

media release: The Wisconsin Book Festival is preparing for the fall kickoff to its 2021–22 programming season, with a hybrid approach for author events — some virtual and others in person. In-person events will mostly take place on Saturday, October 23, during the annual fall celebration weekend at Central Library, with select in-person events in partnership with the Wisconsin Science Festival at the Discovery Building on the UW-Madison campus.

"We’re looking forward to the upcoming festival season in its continually evolving form,” said festival Director Conor Moran. “Our virtual events proved very popular over the last year and a half, so we’re planning to continue those but balance them out with select in-person events for those who prefer and miss that format. We want to do whatever we can to celebrate books and reading, to support authors, and to make author talks accessible to our community.” Festival program attendees and authors will be required to adhere to any public health orders in place at their scheduled time.

The Wisconsin Book Festival is presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation. Find the schedule below. For links to virtual events and locations for in-person events, see wisconsinbookfestival.org.

Thursday, October 21

Dr. Leana Wen for Lifelines | 4 p.m. (Virtual)

Roya Hakakian for A Beginners Guide to America | 5:30 p.m. (Virtual)

Jo Handlesman for A World Without Soil | 6 p.m. (In-Person)

Big Ideas for Busy People: How Do We Know What We Know | 7 p.m. (In-Person)

Carol Anderson for The Second | 7 p.m. (Virtual)

Miriam Toews for Fight Night | 8:30 p.m. (Virtual)

Friday, October 22

Rob Kenner for The Marathon Don't Stop | 4 p.m. (Virtual)

Tomás Morín and Clemonce Heard for Tragic City & Machete | 5:30 p.m. (Virtual)

Celeste Headlee for Speaking of Race | 7 p.m. (Virtual)

Jill Louise Busby for Unfollow Me | 8:30 p.m. (Virtual)

Saturday, October 23

Chad Alan Goldberg + Jason Smith for Education for Democracy | 10:30 a.m. (In-Person)

Gregg Mitman for Empire of Rubber | 10:30 a.m. (In-Person)

Steven Nadler + Lawrence Shapiro for When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People | 11 a.m. (In-Person)

Christina Clancy for Shoulder Season | 12 p.m. (In-Person)

Erica Halverson for How the Arts Can Save Education | 12 p.m. (In-Person)

Meghan O'Gieblyn for God, Human, Animal, Machine | 1 p.m. (In-Person)

James Han Mattson for Reprieve | 1:30 p.m. (In-Person)

Jacquira Diaz for Ordinary Girls | 3 p.m. (In-Person)

Jordan Ellenberg for Shape | 3 p.m. (In-Person)

Larry Olmsted for Fans | 4 p.m. (In-Person)

Jude Stewart for Revelations in Air | 4:30 p.m. (In-Person)

Nick Petrie for The Breaker | 4:30 p.m. (In-Person)

Nickolas Butler for Godspeed | 6 p.m. (In-Person)

Jarrett Adams for Redeeming Justice | 7:30 p.m. (In-Person)

Maddy Court for The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend is My Girlfriend | 9 p.m. (In-Person)

Sunday, October 24

Mary Roach for Fuzz | 11 a.m. (Virtual)

The festival is funded with generous support from Signature Sponsor Marvin J. Levy; Presenting Sponsor Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation; Festival Patron Cheryl Rosen Weston Estate; Festival Sponsors National Endowment forthe Arts and American Girl’s Fund for Children; Contributing Sponsors The Bass Family, Friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., MG&E Foundation and University Research Park; Media Sponsors The Capital Times & Wisconsin State Journal, Isthmus, Madison365 and Wisconsin Public Radio; In-Kind Sponsors KennedyC and the Park Hotel; and Event Supporter A Room of One’s Own. Learn more about funding and support for the festival at wisconsinbookfestival.org/give.

Follow the festival on its website, on its Crowdcast page, on its Facebook page, @wibookfestival on Twitter, or @wibookfest on Instagram.