The Wisconsin Book Festival will bring nearly 70 authors to Central Library and other downtown Madison partner venues for 55-plus free programs as part of its four-day Fall Celebration, taking place Oct. 17-20. Presented by the Madison Public Library in partnership with the Madison Public Library Foundation, the extended weekend event draws thousands of book lovers each year to celebrate reading and authors, engage in deep community conversations, get their books signed and purchase books from local independent bookstores from pop-up tables at the events.
Most programs will take place at Central Library downtown, but others will be at partner sites, such as UW-Madison’s Institutes for Discovery, the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium and Arts + Literature Laboratory. Select events include free copies of the featured book for attendees (titles below with 📚). Additionally, pick up a complimentary hot beverage from Café Domestique’s coffee station on Central Library’s third floor (10/19, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.), compliments of the festival.
Forty of the authors leading Fall Celebration events are women, writing everything from gripping memoirs to thought-provoking nonfiction to dazzling novels. There is a book and author to match practically any genre or topic interest. Seeking a vividly imaginative tale of sisterhood? Consider Gina Maria Balibrera’s “The Volcano Daughters,” a saucy debut about two sisters raised in the shadow of brutal El Salvadoran dictator El Gran Pendejo and their flight from genocide. How about chemistry and women in science? Dava Sobel’s “The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science” is a radiant biography and a masterpiece of storytelling that illuminates the life and enduring influence of one of the most consequential figures of our time. Do the terms bodily autonomy, gender equality and racial politics ignite a fire in you? Don’t miss Sarah Thornton’s “Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, & Witches Tell Us About Their Breasts.” On the dating scene? Lily Womble’s “Thank You, More Please: A Feminist Guide to Breaking Dumb Dating Rules and Finding Love” instructs on how to create a confident and joyful dating life to make finding the right relationship inevitable.
In addition to numerous women authors sharing their latest work at the Fall Celebration, Festival Director Jane Rotonda chose the following highlight events this year:
Thursday, Oct. 17
Leah Elson: “There Are (No) Stupid Questions … in Science” (7 p.m., Central Library)
“There Are (No) Stupid Questions … in Science” was born from Elson’s popular web series, “60 Seconds of Science,” wherein her avid followers from all around the world suggest topics to break down within 60 seconds. The book provides easy-to-understand, delightfully cheeky explanations for scientific and medical quandaries.
Friday, Oct. 18
📚Nicola Yoon: “One of Our Kind” (6 p.m., Central Library)
Thrilling with insightful social commentary, #1 New York Times best-selling author Yoon’s latest novel about a couple who move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California, explores the ways in which freedom is complicated by the presumptions we make about ourselves and each other.
Paola Ramos: “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America” (7:30 p.m., Central Library)
Through personal stories, award-winning journalist Ramos demonstrates how tribalism, traditionalism, and political trauma within the Latino community has been weaponized to radicalize and convert voters who — like many of their white counterparts — are fearful of losing their place in American society.
📚Danez Smith: “Bluff” (9 p.m., Central Library)
Written after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd, “Bluff” is a powerful reckoning with Smith’s role and responsibility as a poet, and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. Presented in partnership with the UW–Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiative.
Saturday, Oct. 19
📚Nicola Twilley: “Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves” (10:30 a.m., Central Library)
Nearly three-quarters of everything on the average American plate is processed, shipped, stored and sold under refrigeration. Twilley’s eye-opening book reveals the transformative impact refrigeration has had on our health and our guts; our farms, tables, kitchens, and cities; global economics and politics; and even our environment.
📚Barbara McQuade: “Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America” (3 p.m., Central Library)
American society is more polarized than ever before — strategically being pushed apart by the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth. Legal scholar and analyst McQuade shows how to identify disinformation as it seeps into all facets of our society and how we can fight it. In conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner and Madison native David Maraniss.
Rufi Thorpe: “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” (6 p.m., Central Library)
Thorpe’s tale of a struggling 20-year-old unexpectedly new mother is a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off. In conversation with Christina Clancy.
Joseph O’Neill: “Godwin” (7:30 p.m., Central Library)
Award-winning author O’Neill investigates the legacy of colonialism in the context of family love, global capitalism and the dreaming individual in this story of two brothers crossing the world in hopes of finding an African soccer prodigy who might change their fortunes.
George Steinmetz: “Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World’s Food” (7:30 p.m., Arts + Literature Laboratory)
Acclaimed photographer Steinmetz knows there are parts of our food chain that some people don’t want us to see, and he embarked on a global project to add more transparency to our food system. “Feed the Planet” documents food production across 36 countries on six continents, 27 U.S. states and five oceans in this examination of the worldwide effort that puts food on our tables and transforms the Earth’s surface.
Sunday, Oct. 20
Lev Grossman: “The Bright Sword” (1:30 p.m., Central Library)
The #1 New York Times author of the best-selling “Magicians” trilogy writes his first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium — a tale steeped in tradition, full of duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings. It also sheds a fresh light on Arthur’s Britain, a diverse, complex nation struggling to come to terms with its bloody history.
View the full schedule of events at wisconsinbookfestival.org.
