The Wisconsin Book Festival is partnering with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) again for the festival’s upcoming Fall Celebration on October 17–20.
CEAS began in 1962 and is a focal point in connecting East Asia to UW–Madison. Through its strong reputation and leadership, the program has significantly grown, providing a variety of opportunities for students both in the United States and globally.
CEAS is continuously creating new opportunities for its students, such as its new Open Source Intelligence Project with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Like recent UW grad Jinwan Park, a 2024–25 Schwarzman Scholar who earned a certificate in East Asian Studies, CEAS creates unique connections all around the world.
CEAS Associate Director David Field was recently named a 2024–25 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) NextGen Korea Scholar, a competitive and unique program that only accepts 10 scholars.
“Community partners like the Book Festival allows CEAS to reach a much broader audience with our East Asia-related programming,” Field said. “This partnership has included books on global topics such as the 2019 democracy protests in Hong Kong and also Wisconsin-specific themes. Our informal goal at CEAS is making Wisconsinites the best-informed Americans on East Asia, bar none, and the Wisconsin Book Festival helps us move forward toward that goal.”
Last year, CEAS and the festival partnered to host Ginseng Roots author Craig Thompson, with CEAS providing financial support.
This year, CEAS and the festival are hosting two events together. Tessa Hulls, Margaret Juhae Lee, and Zara Chowdhary will be part of Writing Our Lineages: A Memoirist Panel and Wendy Chen will discuss her debut novel, Their Divine Fires, on Thursday, October 17. Both events, like all festival events, are free and open to the public. The festival is presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation.