Fox Cities Book Festival @ Neenah Public Library

The third annual Fox Cities Book Festival will be held April 11-18. Events are scheduled throughout the Fox Valley; the following events are those being held at Neenah Public Library:

Sunday, April 11, 2 p.m.: Newbery Honor Award Winner Gennifer Choldenko, author of Al Capone Does My Shirts.

Tuesday, April 13, 7 p.m.: Humorist Laurie Notaro, author of Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death, I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies): True Tales of a Loudmouth Girl.

Wednesday, April 14, 4 p.m.: James DeVita, author of the Young Adult novel, The Silenced.

Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m.: Wisconsin’s First Poet Laureate, Ellen Kort, and Paula Tiller, “A Marriage of Music and Poetry”

Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m.: Lesley Kagen, Whistling in the Dark. The 4th Annual “Fox Cities Reads” title.

Friday, April 16, 2 p.m.: Urban Farming in America with urban farmer Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.

Other authors coming to the Fox Cities: Kim Edwards (Memory Keeper’s Daughter); David Wroblewski (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle); Jane Hamilton (Book of Ruth); Bishop Robert Morneau; Poet Laureate Ted Kooser; Wisconsin Public Radio’s Steve Paulson (To The Best of Our Knowledge); Robert Goolrick (A Reliable Wife); Mary Karr (Liars’ Club); James Campbell (Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth) and many more!

See www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org for more information and the complete schedule of events.

Meeting Reminder

The Oshkosh Area Writers Club will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 3, in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library. For those who need to cross Main St., those from the south should turn on to Ceape right after the bridge; those coming from the north can cross at the intersection of Church and Main.

Beth Ziarnik is our guest speaker for the first hour of the meeting; Bob B. is the Spotlight Author.

Woman's Day Essay Contest

Women's Day and the American Library Association are once again sponsoring a "love your library" contest:

Has the library helped you save money? If the library has gotten you or your family out of a tough financial crunch, helping you save in unexpected ways, tell us about it in an essay of 700 words or less. Up to four women’s stories will be featured in an upcoming issue of Woman’s Day. Click here between February 17 and May 18 for official rules and how to enter.

Write-by-the-Lake Workshop & Retreat

The annual Write-by-the-Lake Writers Workshop & Retreat will be held from 9:30-12:30 June 14-18, 2010, at the Pyle Center, UW-Madison.

There are sections for writers at all levels; topics include Beginning Fiction; Scene Workshop; Tools for Creating a Page-turning Novel; Habit of Poetry; Screenwriting; and How to Get Essays Published. Presenters include Christine DeSmet, Robert Curry, Laurel Yourke and Rae Meadows.

New this year: "Crossing the Finish Line: Full Manuscript Polishing." There is a limit of six writers; fee is $650 for a complete review/edit of your finished manuscript.

For more information and registration form, please go to http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing/wbtl.htm

Hope S. has a new blog

If you're interested, here's the link to my ethnography-in-progress blog for a class I'm in right now. After the semester ends in May, I'll be using the blog through the summer and fall to post updates on my McNair research, which will be closely related in topic and approach. You can access the blog by clicking here.

Feel free to leave comments, critiques, and questions!

Hope S.

Meeting Reminder

The Oshkosh Area Writers Club will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 20, in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library. Because we will be judging stories for the city-wide children's Create-a-Book contest, there will be no critiques. BUT - there will be donuts! I hope you can come - it really is a lot of fun.

Author Spotlight Schedule

"Author Spotlight" allows members to share larger bodies of work (a compilation, novel, or collection of poetry) to be read prior to the meeting, where we spend the last 45 minutes on the critique. The following people are signed up for Author Spotlight:

April 3 - Bob
April 17 - Ann
May 1 - Tana
May 15 - Dixie
June 5 - Tom

Writing Prompt

The writing prompt for April 3 is "The most valuable thing you've ever lost."

Although we're meeting on March 20, we will be judging contest entries so the writing prompt is for the April 3 meeting.

David Sedaris - Madison

David Sedaris returns to Madison this spring! Sedaris is the author of the bestsellers Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and is also a regular National Public Radio contributor.

The event is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 at Overture Hall. Reserved tickets are $32-52 and may be purchased at the Overture Center Ticket Office, online, and by calling 608-258-4141.

Meeting Reminder - March 20

The next meeting of the Oshkosh Area Writers Club is 10 a.m. Saturday, March 20, in the lower level meeting room of the Oshkosh Public Library.

Tom C. is the Author Spotlight and the writing prompt (inspired by Tom)is "battered suitcase."

Upcoming events: Guest speaker Beth Ziarnik will talk about how to get the most out of writers conference at our April 3rd meeting and members will once again judge the city-wide "Create-a-Book" contest on April 17.

Self-Publishing Contest

Writer's Digest is giving away more than $17,000 in prizes in their 18th annual Self-Published Book Awards. All books published or revised and reprinted between 2005 and 2010 are eligible.

The categories:

* Mainstream/Literary Fiction
* Genre Fiction
* Nonfiction
* Inspirational (Spiritual, New Age)
* Life Stories (Biographies, Autobiographies, Family Histories, Memoirs)
* Children's Picture books
* Middle-Grade/Young Adult books
* Reference Books (Directories, Encyclopedias, Guide Books)
* Poetry

Entry deadline is May 3, 2010. Judging fee is $125 for the first submission; $75 for each additional entry.

For contest rules and submission guidelines, please go to http://www.writersdigest.com/selfpublished