Moments of Happiness

Mike Leckrone, Doug Moe

6:00pm - 7:00pm
details the stories behind the highlights & work that made Leckrone's accomplishments possible.

French Girl

Jesse Lee Kercheval

7:00pm - 8:00pm
is a graphic memoir told in 17 connected stories of childhood, girlhood, sisterhood, & motherhood.

SCHOOL VISIT: Marvelous Jackson

Laura Anne Bird

10:00am - 11:00am
After losing his mom, a boy in northern WI rediscovers the love of baking he once shared with her.

That Librarian

Amanda Jones

7:00pm - 8:00pm
calls book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.

2024 Midwest Video Poetry Fest: Night 1

Erika Meitner

7:00pm - 8:00pm
An evening of films including original poems, experimental works, animation, translations, and more.

2024 Midwest Video Poetry Fest: Night 2

Deshawn McKinney

7:00pm - 8:00pm
An evening of films including original poems, experimental works, animation, translations, and more.

UW-Madison Go Big Read: Sitting Pretty

Rebekah Taussig

7:00pm - 8:30pm
Challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind & relentless.

Barons

Austin Frerick

5:30pm - 6:30pm
tells the stories of 7 corporate titans, their rise to power, and the consequences for everyone else

Transforming School Food Politics Around The World

Jennifer Gaddis, Dr. Sarah A. Robert

5:30pm - 6:30pm
sets the stage to reimagine school food as part of the infrastructure of daily life.

Writing Our Lineages: An Asian Memoirist Panel

Tessa Hulls, Margaret Juhae Lee, Zara Chowdhary

5:30pm - 6:30pm
Three debut memoirists discuss their works about unspoken multi-generational family histories.

Holding It Together

Jessica Calarco

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Their Divine Fires

Wendy Chen

7:00pm - 8:00pm
A story about what our ancestors will, and won’t, tell us.

There Are (NO) Stupid Questions...In Science

Leah Elson

7:00pm - 8:00pm
Easy-to-understand and delightfully cheeky explanations for scientific and medical quandaries.

2024 Charlotte Zolotow Lecture: Meg Medina - The Way In and the Way Out: Writing Picture Books in Contentious Times

Meg Medina

7:30pm - 8:30pm

Chasing the Stars

James Lattis, Kelly Tyrrell, Doug Moe

4:00pm - 5:00pm
Explore the stories of Wisconsin astronomers who've helped us better understand our universe.

A World Of Hurt

Mindy Mejia, Matt Goldman

4:30pm - 5:30pm
delves into survivor’s guilt and fleshes out the lives continued by the ones left behind.

The Volcano Daughters

Gina María Balibrera

4:30pm - 5:30pm
charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth urgent voices.

We Had Fun and Nobody Died

Peter Jest , David Luhrssen

4:30pm - 5:30pm
provides a rare window into the music industry from a promoter’s perspective.

The Elements of Marie Curie

Dava Sobel

5:00pm - 6:00pm
illuminates the life and enduring influence of one of the most consequential figures of our time.

I Heard There Was a Secret Chord

Daniel Levitin

6:00pm - 7:00pm
Across cultures, sound and rhythm have been used to ease suffering, promote healing & calm the mind.

Minority Rule

Ari Berman

6:00pm - 7:00pm
exposes the long history of the conflict between white supremacy and multiracial democracy.

One of Our Kind

Nicola Yoon

6:00pm - 7:00pm
explores the ways freedom is complicated by the presumptions we make about ourselves and each other.

Still Waters

Matt Goldman, Mindy Mejia

6:00pm - 7:00pm
A gripping, emotional thrill ride on grief and uncovering the past before it’s too late.

Creation Lake

Rachel Kushner

7:30pm - 8:30pm
A work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.

Defectors

Paola Ramos

7:30pm - 8:30pm
Explores how race, identity & political trauma influence far-right sentiment among Latino voters.

Hampton Heights

Dan Kois

7:30pm - 8:30pm
A tender horror-comedy about camaraderie, bravery, vulnerability, and growing up.

Bluff

Danez Smith

9:00pm - 10:00pm
A manifesto about artistic resilience when the places we most love are burning.

We Read Youth Voices Writing Contest: Authors Reception

Diya Dhawal, Grace Huang , Nora Moran, Ash Gartler

9:30am - 10:30am
A celebration of this year's WE READ Youth Voices writing contest winners.

Frostbite

Nicola Twilley

10:30am - 11:30am
An engaging exploration of refrigeration & how it has remade our entire relationship with food.

Lola

Karla Arenas Valenti

10:30am - 11:30am
A simmering tale of magic, adventure, and the extraordinary bond between a brother and sister.

Spooky Lakes

Geo Rutherford

10:30am - 11:30am
plumbs the depths of 25 unusual lakes around the world.

We Were The Universe

Kimberly King Parsons, Chelsea Bieker

10:30am - 11:30am
A young mother, in denial after the death of her sister, navigates desire, guilt, and grief.

Madwoman

Chelsea Bieker, Kimberly King Parsons

12:00pm - 1:00pm
A gripping story of motherhood and motherloss.

Safe

Mark Daley

12:00pm - 1:00pm
a deeply personal window into what happens when the universal longing for family faces bureaucracy.

The Morningside

Téa Obreht

12:00pm - 1:00pm
examines how people thrive in their imagination & how myths shape our families and our perceptions.

Turning to Stone

Marcia Bjornerud

12:00pm - 1:00pm
reveals how rocks are the hidden infrastructure that keep the planet functioning.

The City in Glass

Nghi Vo

1:30pm - 2:30pm
An epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire.

The Indian Card

Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz

1:30pm - 2:30pm
sheds light on finding a deeper sense of belonging amidst the ongoing fight for Native sovereignty.

The Insect Epiphany

Barrett Klein, Heather Swan

1:30pm - 2:30pm
proves that our world would look very different without insects, shaping what makes us human.

Women's Hotel

Daniel M. Lavery

1:30pm - 2:30pm
A poignant and funny novel about the residents of a women’s hotel in 1960's New York City.

Attack From Within

Barbara McQuade, David Maraniss

3:00pm - 4:00pm
shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society.

Forest of Noise

Mosab Abu Toha

3:00pm - 4:00pm
An urgent, extraordinary & arrestingly whimsical book, that brings us indelible art in a time of war

Malas

Marcela Fuentes

3:00pm - 4:00pm
A love letter to Tejano culture and community that helps these women discover what family means.

Writing the More-Than-Human World: A Reading and Conversation with Heather Swan and Catherine Jagoe

Catherine Jagoe, Heather Swan

3:00pm - 4:00pm
How to cultivate wonder and hope at a time of unparalleled ecological destruction.

Beyond the Big Lie

Bill Adair

4:30pm - 5:30pm
unpacks the state of our politics but provides solutions to put an end to American political deceit.

Extra! Extra! Eat All About It!

Jane Conway and Randi Julia Ramsden

4:30pm - 5:30pm
offers a unique glimpse into the Midwestern culinary landscape between 1870 and 1930.

Float Up, Sing Down

Laird Hunt, Beth Nguyen

4:30pm - 5:30pm
is the story of a single day in one of Hunt’s most beloved and enduring landscapes.

STILL: The Art of Noticing

Mary Jo Hoffman

4:30pm - 5:30pm
traces an incredible undertaking, sharing breathtaking photographs from Hoffman’s enormous archive.

Too Good To Miss Poetry Reading: Extraordinary Poets With Wisconsin Ties

Cynthia Marie Hoffman, Alison Thumel, J.L. Conrad

4:30pm - 5:30pm
An evening of moving poetry by extraordinary poets with Wisconsin Ties.

2000 Blacks

Ajibola Tolase, Natasha Oladokun

6:00pm - 7:00pm
probes the complexity of economic & politically motivated migration from Africa.

Margo's Got Money Troubles

Rufi Thorpe, Christina Clancy

6:00pm - 7:00pm
A playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative.

Nature's Writers: Mentored by the Land

Donald Clark, Andy Adams

6:00pm - 7:00pm
A unique & compelling story of the land and how it has inspired some of our greatest poets & authors

Tits Up

Sarah Thornton

6:00pm - 7:00pm
Connects concepts of bodily autonomy, gender equality, racial politics, and desire.

Feed the Planet

George Steinmetz

7:30pm - 8:30pm
Documents the global effort that puts food on our tables and transforms the surface of the Earth.

Godwin

Joseph O'Neill

7:30pm - 8:30pm
investigates the legacy of colonialism in the context of family love and global capitalism.

New And Selected Poems

Marie Howe, Chessy Normile

7:30pm - 8:30pm
An indispensable collection of more than four decades of profound, luminous poetry.

Thank You, More Please

Lily Womble

7:30pm - 8:30pm
A proven guide to a confident & joyful dating life that makes the right relationship inevitable.

A Season for That

Steve Hoffman, Judith Siers-Poisson

10:30am - 11:30am
Explores the beauty of a culture that is one with its landscape, and becoming one with that culture.

Blue Light Hours

Bruna Dantas Lobato, Mandy Moe Pwint Tu

10:30am - 11:30am
paints a powerful portrait of a mother and a daughter coming of age together and apart.

The Inner Clock

Lynne Peeples

10:30am - 11:30am
How the science of circadian rhythms can help you sleep better, feel happier, and improve health.

Night Magic

Leigh Ann Henion

12:00pm - 1:00pm
On this imperiled planet, nature’s magic still exists, often in the places we least expect it.

Polostan

Neal Stephenson

12:00pm - 1:00pm
an inventive, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining historical epic.

While You Were Out

Meg Kissinger

12:00pm - 1:00pm
explores the consequences of shame, botched public policy & the hope offered by new treatments.

The Bright Sword

Lev Grossman

1:30pm - 2:30pm
Imperfect men & women looking for a way to reforge a broken land in spite of being broken themselves

Wisconsin People & Ideas 2024 Fiction and Poetry Contest Winners

Bob Wake, C. E. Perry, Linda Falkenstein, Diya Abbas, Han Raschka, Lisa Vihos

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Murder Girl

Heidi Armbruster

7:00pm - 8:00pm
A home-grown, world-premiere comedy about found family, old fashioneds & where to stow the roadkill.