Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Next Meeting, etc.

Just a reminder that the next meeting is 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library. Those who are interested can spend the first hour listening to guest author Denys Cazet. At 11 a.m., Rachel is the featured Author Spotlight.

Also, please make an effort to get your submission(s) for the OAWC anthology to Stacie P. by mid-October. We'd like the anthology to be available in time for Christmas and we need to give Stacie ample time to format the manuscript.

Also, a big thanks to Tom C. for working on cover art and a possible title!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Chippewa Valley Book Festival

The Chippewa Valley Book Festival, Oct. 15-22, features the following speakers:

Mike Perry
Michael Perry was raised on a small farm in northwestern Wisconsin. His writing has appeared in numerous publications including Esquire, Newsweek, the New York Times magazine, Salon, the Utne Reader, and Cowboy Magazine, and his essays and humor are frequently heard on both Wisconsin and Minnesota public radio. His latest work, "Truck: A Love Story," is due out in October 2006.

At the Festival:
Reading
October 15 | 3pm | Masonic Temple, 616 Graham Ave, Eau Claire

Marge Piercy
Marge Piercy is the author of seventeen novels including the New York Times Bestseller "Gone To Soldiers" and the National Bestseller "The Longings of Women." Her latest book, "Sex Wars," was published in the fall of 2005. She has been a featured writer on Bill Moyers’ PBS Specials, Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, the Today Show, and many radio programs nationwide. She has taught, lectured and/or performed her work at well over 400 universities around the world.

At the Festival:
Reading
October 17 | 7pm | Davies Theatre, UW-Eau Claire

Minnesota Crime Wave
The Minnesota Crime Wave is made up of three popular mystery writers from the Minnesota area. They have become known for their compelling costumed presentations to audiences at bookstores, libraries and other venues across the country. In 2005 the Minnesota Crime Wave published an anthology titled "The Silence of the Loons." The book consists of 13 short mystery stories from some of Minnesota’s best crime writers. The group is currently working on putting together another anthology. The new volume, to be titled Resort to Murder, is planned for release in late summer, 2007. Individual Minnesota Crime Wave author bios below.

At the Festival:
Themes and Forms in Crime Fiction
October 21 | 2:30pm | Chippewa Valley Museum

Reading
October 21 | 7:30pm | Chippewa Valley Museum

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen's nine books include the Elizabeti Series, beginning with "Elizabeti's Doll; We'll Paint the Octopus Red." Her books have earned honors such as the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, the Africana Book Award, the Parents' Choice Foundation Book Award, and the LA Notable Book Award. After living on Midway Atoll for nearly three years, she now lives in the state of Washington, not far from Mount St. Helen's and is a permanent faculty member of the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program.

At the Festival:
Reading For Kids and Teens (with David LaRochelle and Patrick Jones)
October 21 | 10:15am | Eau Claire Room, L.E. Phillips Public Library

Sources for Stories with Emphasis on the International Perspective(with Joel Friederich and Karen Loeb)
October 21 | 1pm | Eau Claire Room, L.E. Phillips Public Library

Wisconsin Book Festival - Edgerton

The Edgerton Book Festival has an amazing line-up of speakers on Saturday, Oct. 21, in their 600-seat Edgerton Performing Arts Center.

The Keynote Speaker from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. is Helen Thomas, is an internationally known Washington Press Corps reporter, a famous United Press International reporter covering every Presidential Administration from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. Helen has completed a book called "Front Row at the White House."

After Ms. Thomas, Wisconsin's own Michael Perry will speak from 11 a.m. to noon. Perry was raised on a small dairy farm in northwestern Wisconsin. As an author and humorist, his work includes humorous offbeat appearances as a commentator on Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now." He is a volunteer firefighter and EMT, can milk a cow in the dark, and says that you should never show up at the fire hall in tights.

Other speakers include Kevin Henkes, from Racine, Wisconsin, and David Maraniss, a Michigan native.

Henkes belongs to an elite group of authors who have won three of the highest honors in children's publishing: The Caldecott Medal in 2005 for Kitten's First Full Moon; the Newbery Honor award in 2004 for the novel, Olive's Ocean; and the 1994 Caldecott Honor award for Owen.

David Maraniss and his family moved to Madison when he was eight years old, and he attended the University of Wisconsin. His journalism career began in college. He has written for many newspapers, including The Washington Post, where he served as Southwest Bureau Chief for seven years and is currently writer-at-large on the national staff. He has won several awards for writing including the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1993.

Wisconsin Book Festival - Milwaukee

The "Cream City" is participating in the Wisconsin Book Festival in a big way! A sampling of events are listed below:

Workshop with Dasha Kelly
Wednesday, October 11, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Lyrical Sanctuary Writer's Workshop, Multicultural Student Center Lounge, UWM Union 198. For more information, call (414) 229-6998.

Dust off that poem-in-progress and join a group of blossoming writers as we discover how to express ourselves on paper. Perhaps you'll come up with something to share at the Lyrical Sanctuary open mic. This month's featured facilitator is Milwaukee poet Dasha Kelly. As a performance poet, Dasha has been featured around the country with her two spoken word CDs, Still Waters and Mixed Greens. All Fall Down is the title of her debut novel. Sponsored by UWM Union Sociocultural Programming and the Still Waters Collective.

An Evening with Dan Savage
Wednesday, October 11, 8:00 PM
UWM Union Ballroom, $5
For more information, call the UWM LGBT Resource Center at (414) 229-4116.

Spend an evening with Dan Savage. Savage writes the internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column, Savage Love. He is the author of The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family. Sponsored by the UWM LGBT Resource Center with the assistance of UWM Union Programming and the UWM Union Sociocultural Programming.

Wisconsin Authors Night
Monday, October 16, 7:00 PM
Marquette University's Weasler Auditorium, 15th and Wells.
For more information, call (414) 288-7179.

New works by Michael Perry and Elizabeth Berg headline the Wisconsin Authors Night, which will include eight Wisconsin authors performing a literary can-can line of very brief readings. Writers scheduled to read include UWM's Liam Callanan, Susan Firer, Jim Hazard and John Koethe, and Marquette's C.J. Hribal, Ben Percy, Angela Sorby and Larry Watson. A reception and book signing follow, with Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops on hand for those wishing to purchase books at the event.

Ted Kooser, David Maraniss and Jane Hamilton
Saturday, October 21, 7:00 PM
Free. Seating is limited; doors open at 6:30 PM.
Milwaukee Public Library's Centennial Hall, 733 N. Eighth St.
For more information, call (414) 286-3000.

Join the U.S. Poet Laureate and two of Wisconsin's favorite writers for the literary event of the season! Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, professor of English at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, joins biographer and historian David Maraniss and novelist Jane Hamilton. All three will read from their works. Book-signing will follow the program.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Daily Lit

No time to read? The e-mail service Daily Lit sends you a bite-sized chunk of a novel to your inbox every day.

Search for a book you'd like to read via e-mail from an impressive list of classics in the public domain - like Gulliver's Travels or Moby Dick - and receive it in parts, one part each day, at a scheduled time, via e-mail. The message isn't too long and gives you the option to get the next installment immediately, or wait till the next day's scheduled time.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

If you miss Mitch Albom...

If you can't make it hear Mitch Albom in Oshkosh on Tuesday morning, Oct. 10, he will also be appearing at 7 p.m. that night at Alverno College Pittman Theatre. The fee is $27 (instead of $25 here in Oshkosh) and includes a copy of his newest novel, "For One More Day." For more information, click here.

Author Denys Cazet

Children's author/ilustrator Denys Cazet will be at the Oshkosh Public Library at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, in the lower level Childrens Room. The event is free and open to the public.

The OAWC plans to attend the lecture and then resume with our regular meeting at 11 a.m.

Denys Cazet is the author and illustrator of the Minnie and Moo series of books written for beginning readers. He has published more than 25 picture books including Never Spit on Your Shoes, winner of the California Young Readers Medal. (Author Daniel San Souci was to appear with Cazet but he had to cancel for personal reasons.)

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Meeting Reminder

Just a reminder that the OAWC meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library. This would be a great time to bring submissions for the upcoming anthology.

As always, meetings are free and open to anyone age 17 and older.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Author Lois Lowry

Lois Lowry will delivery the 9th annual Charlotte Zolotow Lecture on Wednesday evening, October 18, 7:30 p.m., at the Wisconsin Union Theater on the UW-Madison campus.

Ms. Lowry is the author of many acclaimed books for children and teenagers, including the Newbery-award winning "Number the Stars" (Houghton Mifflin, 1989) and "The Giver" (Houghton Mifflin, 1993). Her most recent book is "Gossamer" (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

This is a free public lecture, and is a featured event of the 2006 Wisconsin Book Festival. For more information about this year's
lecture, go to http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/czfaq.asp

The annual Charlotte Zolotow Lecture is sponsored by the Cooperative
Children's Book Center of the School of Education at UW-Madison to honor UW alumna Charlotte Zolotow's distinguished career as a children's book editor. The CCBC also sponsors the annual Charlotte
Zolotow Award to honor Charlotte's career as an author.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Write Great Fiction : Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

Title: Write great fiction : plot & structure : techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish
Author: James Scott Bell
Genre: Non-Fiction
Summary: A thorough study of plot and structure, using various movies, plays and books to drive home the point.
The Take-Away: The structure and explanation of plot devices and novel structure is so deceptive, it creeps up and slaps you along side the head. Then I wondered, "Why didn't I see that before?"
This title was a great refresher and a fantastic way to plot my next story while pointing out the holes in the current one. Since Bell uses a variety of books, movies and plays to make his point, everyone should be able relate to what he is saying without reading any obscure books.
Recommendation: If you need a refresher or a motivator, this is it.

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Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Congrats goes to...

Congratulations to member Stacie Penney for taking second prize in the first annual writing contest sponsored by The Writing Show.

Stacie won for "Journey and Arrival," the first chapter of her novel "Is There Life Out There?" about a young widow who returns to her Midwestern hometown to pick-up the fragments of her life.”

You can read or hear Stacie's chapter (read by actress Kymm Zuckert!) by clicking here.

The Writing Show podcasts feature interviews with well-known authors, agents and publishers. The programs are informative and interesting; highly recommended!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

WRWA Fall Conference

The Wisconsin Regional Writers Association Fall Conference will be held September 23- 24 at The Ramada Inn, 3431 Milton Ave., Janesville, WI.

Fees are $75 for members and $85 for non-members; meals are extra. Registration deadline is Sept. 18.

Workshops include:

Jennifer Turner
“Launching a Career, a Novel Journey”

Jack Byrne
“Literary Agents: Who, What, When, How & Why”

Chris Roerden
“Voice--Sounds from the Submission Pile”

Jack Magestro
“hanging the Paradigm of Publishing”

Tom Montag
“Writing Poetry Successfully: 99 Propositions”

To end the event, The Robert E. Gard Foundation will present its Award for Excellence at the Jade Ring Banquet on Sunday, September 24.

This years recipient, Ben Logan, is one of the quintessential Wisconsin Authors who has created that sense of place that Wisconsin is. His Wisconsin classic is "The Land Remembers" about growing up on a farm in Wisconsin. It is the best selling book ever by a Wisconsin Author. The presentation will be made directly following the Jade Ring meal.

For more information or to register for the event, click here. Or, call Jane at (920) 533-3044.