The Wisconsin Book Festival will kick off today in Madison, beginning five days of novelists, poets and lectures sponsored by the Wisconsin Humanities Council.
Dave Eggers, Jean Feraca, Margaret George, Howard Zinn, Tim O'Brien and Rabbi Howard Kushner, along with many Wisconsin and non-native Wisconsin writers, are scheduled to appear. In addition, writers from UW-Madison, such as Lorrie Moore and Amy Quan Barry, will be reading from their recent works.
Events will be held at various venues, including the Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St., Canterbury Booksellers, 315 W. Gorham St., and The Wisconsin Historical Society, 816 State St.
The program will include many lectures dealing with writing and publishing, including a symposium at 1 p.m. Friday in the Wisconsin Historical Society. All events are free and no tickets are required. However, participants may wish to come early, as organizers say some events will fill up quickly.
\It's been a 10-month planning process and ten years of talking,"" said festival director Dean Bakopoulos.
This is the first year Madison will be hosting a book festival.
""There's been a lot of talking in Madison for almost a decade about how we have so many writers and how Madison is such a great book town, but there's [been] no book festival,"" Bakopoulos said.
Bakopoulos also said he believes the book festival will be a unique opportunity for the Madison community.
""This festival gives people a chance to not only read books, but meet the people who created them and the most important thing is that it allows the audience to engage the author in a question and answer session,"" he said. ""Essentially it's not only a five-day celebration of books, literacy, and authors, and literature, but it is also a five-day festival of ideas.""
Canterbury Booksellers' event coordinator, Tara Mathison, helped organize the event, along with the Wisconsin Humanities council.
The idea for the Festival was brought up in December 2001. The Wisconsin Humanities Council selected some state Legislators, led by Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, to run the first festival. Jensen was then allowed a one-time grant from the state budget and the rest of the money for the Wisconsin Book Festival was pulled together through private sponsors.
""It is just awesome all the coverage we have gotten,"" Mathison said. ""It's nice to be a part of something that brings the community together.""
Along with helping the community, Mathison also praised UW-Madison for its help.
""The Creative Writing Department at the University is also getting stronger and stronger [through the festival],"" she said.
""I hope that people walk away with a feeling of connection with their favorite authors,"" Mathison said. ""People should walk away feeling like they know Tim O'Brien or that they've shared a moment with Howard Zinn.""
For a complete schedule visit http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org.
