Wisconsin Book Festival Luau

Friday, October 21 - WISCONSIN BOOK FESTIVAL LUAU

Time: 3-5 pm

Location: Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 N. Carroll Street, Madison. DIVE IN to a luau-style celebration of Wisconsin's surfing history. Meet surfing legend Larry "Longboard" Williams who will guide attendees through the crazy, inspiring true story of how he and his twin brother Lee transformed their hometown, Sheboygan, into a destination for surfers worldwide. The book talk event will feature Happy Hour surf shack snacks and a beer sampling. This Wisconsin Book Festival 2016 event is cohosted by the Wisconsin Historical Society's Wisconsin Historical Museum, Society Press, and "Dive In," an initiative exploring Wisconsin's water history through programs, events and exhibits.

From hypothermia to "Hanging-Ten," a new book by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Some Like It Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest, tells the crazy, inspiring true story of Larry and Lee Williams, the maverick brothers who founded the "home beach" of freshwater surfing in Sheboygan, Wis., the Midwestern "Malibu."

For these charismatic twins, life is a beach, even when that beach happens to be two thousand miles from an ocean. Despite sub-zero temperatures during Wisconsin's prime surfing season (the middle of winter!), these surfing daredevils have been risking frostbite since the late 1960s to ride Great Lakes waves.

This updated edition of William Povletich's book chronicles the brothers' journey to international surfing stardom. With humor and passion, Lee and Larry recall freak storms and near drownings, the endorphin rush of riding a raging Lake Michigan wave, and the wild, half century-long thrill of putting Sheboygan on the map as one of the world's most intriguing surfing destinations. This edition also includes a new chapter that brings their story up to the present.