Author Event

John Kaminski, Ph.D., Director at the UW-Madison Center for the Study of the American Constitution, will discuss Hamilton's spectacular rise from obscurity in the West Indies to the heights of power directing the new nation's finances and serving as the leader of one of the two great political parties of the 1790's. Kaminski will also highlight the strengths and shortcomings of Lin-Manuel Miranda's play, Hamilton.

Dr. Kaminski's book, Alexander Hamilton: From Obscurity to Greatness, will be available for sale and signing.

Author of Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram, will be speaking with the middle and high school students throughout the day about mental illness and the impact it has on people's lives.  In the evening, adults and students can hear the author speak at 6:30 pm at the Belleville High School Library.

Author of Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram, will be speaking with the middle and high school students throughout the day about mental illness and the impact it has on people's lives.  In the evening, adults and students can hear the author speak at 6:30 pm at the Belleville High School Library.

Science writer Scott Spoolman takes readers with him to twenty-eight state parks and forests where evidence of the state’s striking geologic and natural history are on display. The author tells stories of events and processes that shaped Wisconsin’s landscapes, including volcanic eruptions, invasions by ancient seas, crushing glaciers, and centuries of erosion.

The human fascination with winged creatures has been around for centuries. Michael Edmonds shares how and why people have worshipped, feared, studied, hunted, and protected the birds that surrounded them.  Drawn from archaeological reports, missionaries' journals, travelers' letters, early scientific treatises, the memoirs of American Indian elders, and the folklore of hunters, farmers, and formerly enslaved people throughout the Midwest, Edmonds reveals how our ancestors thought about the very same birds we see today. 

How does one address subjects too painful to speak of, too personal to publicize? And how does one do it in a manner that is both entertaining and informative? Come and meet author and speaker Karl Stewart and discover how he found a path through the Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) that ravaged his family. Learn how the writing of two novels, The Seventh Cruise, and Up Harvey’s Creek provided the venue, first to explore the illness that plagued his father, and secondly how an eleven year old boy sought to cope with it.

How does one address subjects too painful to speak of, too personal to publicize?And how does one do it in a manner that is both entertaining and informative? Come and meet author and speaker Karl Stewart and discover how he found a path through the Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) that ravaged his family. Learn how the writing of two novels, The Seventh Cruise, and Up Harvey’s Creek provided the venue, first to explore the illness that plagued his father, and secondly how an eleven year old boy sought to cope with it.

Return to the farm with Jerry Apps as he reminisces about how the simple things that made up everyday life on the farm—an old cedar fencepost, Fanny the farm dog, the trusty tools used for farmwork, the kerosene lantern the family gathered around each morning and evening. Listen as he plumbs his memories for the deeper meanings of these objects, sharing the values instilled in him during his rural boyhood in the 1940s and 1950s.

     Kathleen's lively, richly-illustrated program will take readers 'behind the scenes' to reveal the people, places, and the past that inspired her to write the now eight books featuring museum curator (and reluctant sleuth) Chloe Ellefson and her police officer boyfriend Roelke McKenna.

Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Cooperative Children's Book Center, Meg Medina will join the Wisconsin Book Festival to discuss her books for kids of all ages.