For the third consecutive year, the National Endowment for the Arts granted the Wisconsin Book Festival $10,000 to help cement its reputation as one of the top literary festivals in the country. The grant will allow the festival to attract and host award-winning authors for free, public events.
Spring Season Wraps Up: The festival presented 28 virtual events this spring. May events included several big names, such as 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose touching conversation about her book Persist with Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler elicited laughter and tears from the audience; graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel; and New York Times best-selling novelist Kevin Kwan, author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. Spring kids’ events featured local author and illustrator Kevin Henkes for Billy Miller Makes a Wish and former American Girl magazine editor Andrea Debbink for The Wild World Handbook.
Watch past events on the festival website.
Fall Preparations: Wisconsin Book Festival Director Conor Moran is busily planning a return to in-person programming this fall. He’s working with library staff, authors and publishers to create a well-rounded event schedule of stand-alone events, as well as a fall weekend celebration in October. The festival will announce the schedule in August; watch its social media or sign up for its e-newsletters at wisconsinbookfestival.org for updates.