The Wisconsin Book Festival headed into its fall celebration week on October 7 with A Conversation with James Patterson, the world’s bestselling author, who spoke to both youth and adult audiences at Capitol Theater in Overture Center for the Arts.
Patterson chose Madison as the sole location for a public appearance in advance of his two book releases, Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment, a youth science adventure novel; and Ambush, the latest in Patterson’s Detective Michael Bennett thriller series. Public sales of both books began the day after his Madison event.
In addition to Patterson, more than 60 authors presented throughout the four-day celebration October 11–14. Popular events included Kate Moore for The Radium Girls; Jamel Brinkley for A Lucky Man; Rebecca Makkai for The Great Believers; Megan McDonald for Judy Moody & the Right Royal Tea Party; Rebecca Traister for Good & Mad; Dan Kaufman for The Fall of Wisconsin; Mark Kurlansky for Milk!; and Dessa for My Own Devices. The festival also held events in the weeks before and after festival weekend, including Tommy Orange for There There, and Jabari Isim for We Can’t Breathe.
C-SPAN’s Book TV broadcast live events with call-in opportunities for those who could not attend events in person, expanding the Festival’s reach to a national audience.
Attendance at year-round festival events in 2018 exceeded 14,000 people from more than 20 states, and $70,000 in books were sold at author events.
All festival events are free and open to the public. Festival members earn reserve seating opportunities at select events. The festival thanks Signature Sponsor Marvin J. Levy for his support of the 2018-19 season.
Visit the festival website to learn about 2019 author events.
James Patterson, the world’s best-selling author, signs books following his appearance at a Wisconsin Book Festival event on October 7 at Overture Center for the Arts.