Rebecca Makkai

This is the 3rd Annual John, Elizabeth and Alison Morris Memorial Event, sponsored by Greg Morris and the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire Foundation.

Rebecca Makkai’s novel The Great Believers (a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer in fiction and the 2018 National Book Award) chronicles the AIDS epidemic in 1980s Chicago. In this talk, she will read from the book and discuss its origins, stemming from her own experience growing up in Chicago during the epidemic.  Makkai will also delve into the dearth of research on how AIDS affected the Midwest and talk about her approach to gathering personal stories from those who were hit hardest. 

TICKETS:
Tickets for this presentation are $10 including taxes/fees.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of The Great Believers available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

REBECCA MAKKAI is the Chicago-based author of the novel The Great Believers, a finalist for a 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and one of The New York Times’ top ten books for 2018. It was also the winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence from the American Library Association, the Stonewall Award, and the Chicago Review of Books Award, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a pick for the New York Public Library’s 2018 Best Books. Her other books are the novels The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House, and a short story collection, Music for Wartime. Rebecca is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. 

rebeccamakkai.com | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Art Cullen

This event is co-sponsored by L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

The small community of Storm Lake, Iowa, has changed dramatically over Art Cullen’s 30-year career in journalism. Cullen, co-owner of The Storm Lake Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper, recognizes that rural communities are profoundly challenged and that climate change is already hampering food production. But he has also identified solutions, if we can accept changes such as immigration and a more resilient agriculture.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of A Chronicle of Change, Resilience and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

ART CULLEN is editor of The Storm Lake Times in Storm Lake, Iowa, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2017 for a series of editorials on surface water pollution in Iowa caused by agricultural drainage. He is the author of Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper. He owns the twice-weekly newspaper with his brother, John, who serves as publisher. He also works with his wife, Dolores, a photographer, and son Tom, a reporter. He is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

artcullen.com

Mindy Mejia

This event is co-sponsored by L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Crime fiction readers, particularly readers of heartland noir, know that something lies beneath the typical “Midwestern nice” facade. Some of the most seemingly innocent scenes can be rife with suspense; whether it is a blinding blizzard, peaceful pasture, or wandering woods, there is often no one around to hear you scream. Mindy Mejia will tell the tale of her journey into crime fiction, the inspiration for her books, and why she writes heartland noir.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Leave No Trace available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

MINDY MEJIA’s internationally-acclaimed heartland noir novels have been translated into over twenty languages. She’s the author of The Dragon Keeper and Everything You Want Me to Be, which was a People’s Best New Books Pick and listed in The Wall Street Journal’s Best New Mysteries. Her latest novel, Leave No Trace, was nominated for the Barry Award and was a finalist for the 2019 Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction. A graduate of the Hamline University MFA program, she lives and works in the Twin Cities.

mindymejia.com | Facebook | Twitter

Loretta Ellsworth

This event is co-sponsored by L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Behind every tall tale is a little bit of fact. Many fiction authors find their work is influenced by history or their knowledge of a “real” place. Loretta Ellsworth, author of several young adult novels, will share the true history behind her first adult historical novel, Stars Over Clear Lake, which takes place at both the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, and the prisoner of war camp in Algona, Iowa.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Stars Over Clear Lake available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

LORETTA ELLSWORTH grew up in Iowa and is a former teacher and a graduate of Hamline University with an MFA in Writing for Children. She is the author of four novels for younger readers, including In Search of Mockingbird, which won the 2007 Midwest Bookseller’s Choice Honor Award in Children’s Literature, and was named to the 2008 New York Library’s Best Books for Teens list. Ellsworth’s first adult historical novel, Stars Over Clear Lake, is set in Clear Lake, Iowa during World War II. She currently resides in Lakeville, Minnesota.

www.lorettaellsworth.com

This event is co-sponsored by Lazy Monk Brewing and L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Barstow & Grand seeks to fulfill a humble mission—to support the writers of the Chippewa Valley by offering an outlet for their creative writing, and to help them grow and professionalize their craft through the process of submission.

Issue #3 offers as broad and impressive a mix as Issues #1 and #2 did, with novice and professional writers, folks who have lived in the Chippewa Valley their entire lives and those who have joined our community from afar. The release party for Issue #3 will feature readings from the journal, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as commentary from the editors on the publication process and how the journal has grown in its third year. Stop down to hear some incredible writing, pick up an issue, enjoy a locally crafted beer (cash bar), and connect with the Chippewa Valley’s community of writers.

www.barstowandgrand.com

Leif Enger

This event is co-sponsored by Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library and the Heyde Center for the Arts

Storytelling is by nature a hopeful endeavor, and never more so than in times of division and anxiety. Using texts from novelists, poets, and screenwriters, Enger will discuss the Midwestern imagination, the magic of kite-flying, and the power of stories to inspire change.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Virgil Wander available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

LEIF ENGER was raised in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio before writing his best-selling debut novel,  Peace Like a River, which won the Independent Publisher Book Award and was one of Los Angeles Times’s and Time Magazine’s Best Books of the Year. His second novel, So Brave, Young, and Handsome, was also a national best seller and a Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Award Honor Book for Fiction. His newest novel, Virgil Wander, was published in 2018. He and his wife Robin live in Minnesota.

Dorothy Chan

This event is co-sponsored by L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

Join Dorothy Chan, the newest assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, as she reads from her latest collection of poetry, Revenge of the Asian Woman. Continuing with the themes of food, sexuality, culture, and fetishes developed in her previous collections, the reading will showcase Chan’s latest work as well as her reverence for pop culture, kitsch, and excess.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Revenge of the Asian Woman available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

DOROTHY CHAN is the author of Revenge of the Asian Woman, Attack of the Fifty-Foot Centerfold, and the chapbook Chinatown Sonnets. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets, The Cincinnati Review, Diode Poetry Journal, Quarterly West, and elsewhere. She is the Poetry Editor of Hobart and an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.

dorothypoetry.com

Carolyn Porter

This event is co-sponsored by Menomonie Public Library.

During the depths of World War II, Frenchman Marcel Heuzé mailed letters to his wife and three young daughters from a labor camp in Berlin. His handwritten letters home carried tender words of love along with testimony about day-to-day survival inside a labor camp. More than half a century later, type designer Carolyn Porter found a bundle of his letters in an antique shop. As Porter began to transform the beautiful, looping cursive into a modern computer font, she became obsessed with finding answers to her questions: Who was Marcel? Why were his precious letters for sale halfway around the world? And most importantly: Did Marcel survive? Discover what goes into the design of a font, learn about a little-known aspect of WWII—the forced labor of ordinary French civilians—and be inspired to pursue your own passion projects.

Porter will be presenting this program twice at this year’s festival. Click here to see the details regarding her presentation on Tuesday, October 22.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

CAROLYN PORTER is an award-winning graphic designer and type designer based in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. She graduated with a BA in Graphic Design from University of Wisconsin–Stout, which is where she was exposed to typography and the design of letterforms. Her first font, P22 Marcel Script, has garnered four international honors, including the prestigious Certificate for Typographic Excellence from the New York Type Director’s Club. Her nonfiction book, Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate, was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, a Paris Book Festival winner, and a gold medal winner from both Independent Publisher Book Awards and the Military Writer’s Society of America.

carolyn-porter.com

Carolyn Porter

This event is co-sponsored by Fall Creek Public Library.

During the depths of World War II, Frenchman Marcel Heuzé mailed letters to his wife and three young daughters from a labor camp in Berlin. His handwritten letters home carried tender words of love along with testimony about day-to-day survival inside a labor camp. More than half a century later, type designer Carolyn Porter found a bundle of his letters in an antique shop. As Porter began to transform the beautiful, looping cursive into a modern computer font, she became obsessed with finding answers to her questions: Who was Marcel? Why were his precious letters for sale halfway around the world? And most importantly: Did Marcel survive? Discover what goes into the design of a font, learn about a little-known aspect of WWII—the forced labor of ordinary French civilians—and be inspired to pursue your own passion projects.

Porter will be presenting this program twice at this year’s festival. Click here to see the details regarding her presentation on Wednesday, October 23.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

CAROLYN PORTER is an award-winning graphic designer and type designer based in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. She graduated with a BA in Graphic Design from University of Wisconsin–Stout, which is where she was exposed to typography and the design of letterforms. Her first font, P22 Marcel Script, has garnered four international honors, including the prestigious Certificate for Typographic Excellence from the New York Type Director’s Club. Her nonfiction book, Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate, was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, a Paris Book Festival winner, and a gold medal winner from both Independent Publisher Book Awards and the Military Writer’s Society of America.

carolyn-porter.com

Anna Lee Huber

This event is co-sponsored by Altoona Public Library.

When someone mentions female spies, especially during the era of World War I, often the only names they can recall are either the notorious femme fatale Mata Hari or the saintly nurse Edith Cavell. However, the real role of women in espionage was far more varied and prevalent. These real unsung heroes of the Great War formed the basis for  Anna Lee Huber’s fictional heroine—Verity Kent—and parts of their tales and exploits have found their way onto the page in her adventures. Huber will explore the fact and fiction behind these female secret agents, explore the spy rings with which they worked behind enemy lines, and examine their lives after the guns fell silent.

>> Our book sales committee will have copies of Treacherous Is the Night available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation.

ANNA LEE HUBER, winner of the 2018 Daphne du Maurier Award, is author of the national best-selling Lady Darby Mysteries, the Verity Kent Mysteries, and the Gothic Myths series, as well as the forthcoming anthology The Deadly Hours. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in music and minored in psychology. 

annaleehuber.com

Kelly Jensen

This event is co-sponsored by the Katherine S. Schneider Disability Issues Forum and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation. Captioning and sign language interpreting will be provided by the L. E. Phillips Family Foundation. Sally Webb has provided additional support.

While roughly 20% of Americans live with a mental illness, more than half of those who suffer have gone untreated for the past year. Kelly Jensen, author of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health, will talk about her own experiences with depression and anxiety as well as where and how she decided to get help for herself when she turned 30. Using what she learned from her own life, Jensen will discuss where and how to talk about mental health, as well as tools and resources for cracking open those discussions.

>> The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire Bookstore will have copies of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health for sale at a reception and book signing in the Davies Center immediately after the event. Light refreshments will be available.

KELLY JENSEN is a former teen librarian who worked in several public libraries before pursuing a full-time career in writing and editing. Her current position is with Book Riot, where she focuses on talking about young adult literature in all of its manifestations. Her books include Here We Are: Feminism for The Real World and (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health, a collection of art, essays, and words to launch a powerful and important conversation about mental health. It was named a best book of 2018 by the Washington Post and earned a Schneider Family Book Award Honor.

Tanya Lee Stone

This event is co-sponsored by L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library and the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire McIntyre Library.

Why are 130 million girls around the globe not being educated, and what can we do about it? Inspired by the film of the same name, Tanya Lee Stone's Girl Rising tackles these questions. Stone will explore how educating girls is the single most powerful tool we have to make our world a safer, healthier, more functional place. She will unpack the major obstacles to education, including where and why they happen and how we can easily be activists. Q&A invited.

This talk will include a mini-screening (one chapter) of the film.

>> The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire Bookstore will have copies of Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time for sale at a reception and book signing in the Davies Center immediately after the event. Light refreshments will be available.

TANYA LEE STONE is passionate about telling the unsung true stories of people who have been left out of our histories. Her work has earned an NAACP Image Award, Robert F. Sibert Medal, Bank Street Award, and many other honors including NPR Best Books, Boston Globe-Horn Book, Publishers Weekly Best Books, Washington Post's Best New Reads, Smithsonian Magazine Best Books, Chicago Public Library Best Books, and multiple state awards. Stone is on the faculty of Champlain College and frequently travels as a guest speaker.