Wisconsin People & Ideas Fiction and Poetry Contest Reading

media release: Wisconsin People & Ideas, the Wisconsin Academy’s magazine of contemporary Wisconsin thought and culture, presents a Wisconsin Book Festival reading featuring the winners of the statewide 2026 Fiction & Poetry Contests, hosted in partnership with the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and featuring a special guest reading from Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Brenda Cárdenas.

2026 Fiction Winners  

First place: Noreen McAuliffe “The End of the Apostrophe” (Madison)  

Second place: David John Paradise “Still Life” (Milwaukee)  

Third place: Dan Lyksett “The River Waits” (Eau Claire)  

Honorable mention: Scout September Holloway “Sleep Studies” (Madison)  

Honorable Mention: Allison Slavick “Balsam of Gilead” (Cable)  

2026 Poetry Winners  

First place: juj e lepe “Masculinity Study” (Madison)  

Second place: Sam Niven “Low Tide” (Milwaukee)  

Third place: Samantha Schoville “Why We Prayed” (Madison)  

Honorable Mention: Carly Davis “Reading Lorine Downriver” (Janesville)