Wisconsin Book Festival kicks off its 2023 season with a new director and a stacked spring lineup
The spring season starts on Sunday, Feb. 19 with a trio of local authors. Coming soon to Madison: Emily St. John Mandel, Rebecca Makkai, Clint Smith, Michelle Zauner and others.
After a winter break between October’s 20th anniversary celebration season spent securing authors for 2023 — and navigating the recent departure of long-time festival director Conor Moran — the Wisconsin Book Festival is back with a slate of in-person events and a new director, Jane Rotonda.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead one of the country’s most reputable literary festivals,” Rotonda said in a Feb. 17 press release. Rotonda most recently worked at Wisconsin Public Radio as project manager for the Ideas Network and executive producer of The Larry Meiller Show. She also founded WPR's first book club. Rotonda fills the position vacated by Moran in December when he was promoted to executive director of the Madison Public Library Foundation, succeeding Jennifer Jeffress.
“I’m thrilled to be walking into my new position with such a well-rounded lineup of free, diverse author programs, from poetry to fiction to nonfiction,” Rotonda says.
Jane Rotonda named new director of WI Book Festival
Photo by Haley Bogrud
The festival's spring season kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. with a trio of local authors reading from their new books as part of a special Black History Month presentation. Poet Fabu’s collection, “We Eat to Remember: Soul Food Poetry,” is an exploration of the historic, cultural and joyful role food has played in Black lives. “Falling” is a novel by Sherry Lucille about a flashy 1970s playboy and a practical girl in a small Tennessee town. “Flight of the Blackbird” is Catrina J. Sparkman’s first volume in a two-part love story.
Over the next few months, the festival is bringing in some heavy hitters from outside the state. On March 22, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Rebecca Makkai will read from her long-anticipated fourth novel, “I Have Some Questions for You,” in which a podcaster researching disenfranchised women in old Hollywood gets sucked into a rabbit hole from her past. "How the Word is Passed" author Clint Smith will present his new poetry collection, "Above Ground," on April 3, and on April 13, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and National Book Award winner Timothy Egan will present his true story about a woman who stopped the Ku Klux Klan’s plot to take over America. On April 27, Jericho Brown will read from his Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection, "The Tradition."
Most events will be held at Central Library, with the exception of singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner, who will appear at the Barrymore Theatre on April 7. Zauner, widely known for her indie pop band Japanese Breakfast, will read from her New York Times Best Seller memoir, “Crying in H Mart,” which explores her troubled relationship with her Korean mother.
Two events also give festival attendees a glimpse inside the esteemed UW Program in Creative Writing. The six graduating poets of the 2023 MFA cohort will read from their work on March 20, and the 2022 Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing post-graduate fellows will give a reading on April 13. On March 30, Jesse Lee Kercheval, the poet, writer, translator and professor emeritus responsible for creating these programs will present her new poetry collection, “I Want To Tell You.” It will be the official launch event for this, her sixth poetry collection and 18th published book.
All Wisconsin Book Festival events are free and open to the public, with the exception of — and thanks in large part to — the 12th annual Lunch for Libraries fundraiser at the Monona Terrace on April 17 at noon. This year's headliner is Emily St. John Mandel, whose latest bestselling novel, “Sea of Tranquility,” takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon 500 years later. The New York City and Los Angeles-based author’s five earlier novels include “Station Eleven” (a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction) and “The Glass Hotel,” which has been translated into 25 languages. Tickets are $125 for an individual, or $175 to include a 50% discounted Wisconsin Book Festival membership. Admission includes lunch and a signed copy of "Sea of Tranquility." Proceeds benefit Wisconsin Book Festival programming year-round, as well as Madison Public Library's youth literacy efforts.
Founded in 2001, the festival is presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with the Madison Public Library Foundation. Find a full event schedule at wisconsinbookfestival.org.
Maggie Ginsberg is a senior editor at Madison Magazine and author of the 2022 novel “Still True,” published by the University of Wisconsin Press.
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Maggie Ginsberg is a senior editor at Madison Magazine. Her long-form features have garnered numerous honors since 2006 including from the National City Regional Magazine Association, the Milwaukee Press Club and the American Society of Journalist and Authors. In addition to helping edit the work of Madison Magazine's contributing writers, freelancers and essayists, she writes features and the monthly Looking Back historical photo department page. Online, Maggie conducts monthly author Q&As and covers the local literary scene with her Sunday Reads monthly e-newsletter. Her own debut novel, "Still True," was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in September 2022.
