Are you ready for BookFest??

Madisonians: your beloved former Blogmother Judy Mitchell has put together a great summary of events at this year's Wisconsin Book Festival that any diehard UW-CWP loyalist must attend. I bestow it, now, upon you:

THURSDAY

7:30—Rotunda Theater at the Overture Center

UW Program in Creative Writing’s Fall 2011 Writer-in-Residence, Maurice Manning

The Pulitzer Prize nominated poet reads from his work.

FRIDAY

5:30–6:45—Wisconsin Studio at the Overture Center

WPR’s WI Life on Stage presents Lynda Barry

A multi-media event hosted by WI Life commentator Lynda Barry, our Spring 2012 Artist-in-Residence. Lynda and friends will share new work and discuss local identity, writing the land, the power of the ordinary, and what it means to call a place home.

7–8:15—Wisconsin Studio at the Overture Center

The Encyclopedia Show, featuring Lynda Barry and others

The Encyclopedia show is “a variety extravaganza that commissions experts from many disciplines to use their individual talents to present a different verbal encyclopedia entry each month.” More at: http://www.encyclopediashow.com/

8–10—Main Stage at the Orpheum

Friday Night Festival of Fiction, featuring MFA graduate Dean Bakopoulos and Myla Goldberg, John Burnham Schwartz, and Bonnie Jo Campbell.

Four great writers, but if you’re coming just for Dean he opens Act Two at 9:30

SATURDAY

9–11—MATC Downtown Educational Center

Writing the Unthinkable, a workshop with Lynda Barry

This workshop is filled. Sign up for the waitlist at: http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/lyndabarry

3–4—Wisconsin Studio at the Overture Center

The inaugural Mark Gates Memorial Lecture, featuring Dean Bakopoulos

Dean talks about writing in “a world that often seems antithetical to the literary temperament.”

8–9—Rotunda Studio at the Overture Center

Monsters of Poetry presents Erika Meitner and Stuart Nadler

Monsters of Poetry (founded by UW-Madison and Iowa Writers’ Workshop grads) presents two former Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing fellows reading from their books of poetry (Erika) and stories (Stuart)

SUNDAY

9–11—MATC Downtown Educational Center

Writing the Unthinkable, a workshop with Lynda Barry

Added after the Saturday event filled, this session is now also full. Here’s that waitlist address again: http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/lyndabarry

12–1:30—Industry Room at Union South

Women in REDZine Showcase Event

Undergrads Sam Christian, Chloe Clark, Kerriann Ehlen, Kristin Gulotta, Samantha Kohnert, Taylor Neumann, Dan Pankratz, Ean Weslynn, John Zudowicz read from their work in this new undergrad online publication.

12–1:30—Frederic March Play Circle Theater at the Overture Center

Writing Beyond the Sentence: The Wisconsin Prison Project (founded by Laurel Bastian).

MFA graduate and last year’s Halls Emerging Artist Fellow Laurel Bastian, former undergrad Maryssa LaRowe, and The Swank Master present a reading of work by inmates from the Oakhill Correctional Institution.

4–5:30—Wisconsin Studio at the Overture

Hearing Voices: Incantations of the Every Day, featuring Traci Brimhall (and Jean Feraca)

Former Institute fellow Traci reads from her poetry collection. Jean Feraca will read from her memoir.

4–5:30—Varsity 1 at Union South

Devil’s Lake presents “Wild Young Writers”

Former MFA poet Nancy Reddy, one of the founding editors of Devil’s Lake, our graduate student online literary magazine, moderates a reading and conversation with Seth Abramson (PhD with CW minor), Lauren Berry (former Institute poetry fellow), Chris Mohar (undergrad major and only UW undergrad major to be awarded an Institute fellowship), and MATC Professor Matt Guenette.