| The Sixth Annual Wisconsin Book Festival, being held October 10-14 at various venues throughout the Madison area, will feature a broad array of nationally and internationally renowned writers and writing styles, fiction and non-fiction, poetry, anthologies and prose. The writers and their works reflect life experiences from around the globe. "One of the best things about the 2007 festival is not just the inclusion of Black writers, but also writers of color," said Fabu Carter Brisco during an interview with The Capital City Hues. "There are Spanish-speaking writers. There are Asian writers and there are Native American writers. The Wisconsin poet laureate will be here. Denise Sweet is a Native American from our own home town. So they have included a wider array of writers this time from different ethnicities and also different levels." Brisco is acting as a consultant with the Wisconsin Humanities Council, which sponsors the book festival. During the interview, Brisco cited a Jet Magazine survey that revealed that the African American community has a higher percentage of readers than any other ethnic community. Yet, she was worried that the Wisconsin Book Festival, for which she has read her poetry in the past, would not have meaningful participation by the local African American community -- and other communities of color -- unless some of the offerings of the festival were conducive to their participation. So Brisco created some venues in South Madison and elsewhere that would expose the community to the festival and act as a bridge to their participation in the other traditional venues of the festival. To my dismay, there have been lots of people who are wonderful readers that hadn't heard of the book festival and it';s straight up Park Street," Brisco observed. "So part of the effort is to increase publicity about it and connect with the people who love to read." The festival will bring back Fred McKissack Jr. to Madison to read from his two books about African American sports history: Black Diamond and Black Hoops. McKissack formerly was a sports reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal and contributes to The Progressive magazine. McKissack will be making three appearances as a part of the festival. "He's coming because the festival really wants to work for the readers of the future," Brisco said. "His panel is targeting young readers, especially young male readers. I'm very excited about that because Fred McKissack Jr.-- his father writes as well as his mother -- is a former Madisonian and is familiar with people here and the climate and some of the need. He's been gracious enough to go to Lincoln Elementary and J.C. Wright Middle Schools to encourage young readers and talk about how he got started writing and why he loves to write. He will be visiting those schools on Friday October 12. On Saturday, October 13, he will be at the Overture Center for the Arts discussing those books. Because the books are about sports and he is a former sports writer, we're hoping we can help increase the enjoyment of reading for young Black boys and boys everywhere. So the festival isn't just about bringing some of the stellar names to Madison. It's also about cultivating an audience for the future." For the first time in it's history, the festival will feature a bilingual "Spanish-English" presentation. "Oscar Mireles and Nydia Rojas will be talking about Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language Experiences," Brisco said. "For the first time, it will be at a Spanish-speaking venue, Con Safos in McFarland. This is really a pioneering effort. It's seeking out a Spanish-speaking audience. It's presenting a topic of interest to Spanish speakers. It's bilingual for the whole of Madison. But it's also looking at a national question of language in the United States. How does language affect us? So we have these literary artists who are coming to talk about how the use of language and the choice of language affect their work and their creativity." Other local writers will focus on writing as a source of personal healing and as a way to share stories of success over tragedy to others. "We have the power and healing of personal memoirs in African American life," Brisco said. "I'm very excited about that. Local writers Alexander Gee Jr., Lilada Gee and Daphne Brown have taken tragedy in their lives and written about it in ways to empower people. Each of their books explores a very traumatic subject such as loss of a child, sexual abuse or a very difficult childhood growing up in the projects, the loss of the father and all of the things that are all too familiar in life in general and specifically in an African American life. They have shown people through personal memoirs how you can overcome tragedy and still be productive and be a healthy and happy individual." Brisco observed that many authors of color from the Madison area have been self-published, yet she feels their experiences have relevance to a larger audience. So a session will be held with an agent from Lowenstein and Yost and an editor from Red Sea and African World Press to help local authors learn how to prepare their manuscripts and get them published. Local magazine publisher Milele Chikasa Anana will round out the panel presentation at the Harambee Center on October 13. Rounding out the venue at the Harambee Center will be an appearance by Connie Porter, author of the books about Addy, one of the American Girl lines of dolls. There will also be a quilting and arts and crafts exhibit at Harambee. As Brisco makes her last preparations for the festival, she has one secret wish. In order to make McKissack's visit to J.C. Wright Middle School and the festival more meaningful for the Wright students, she is hoping that a benefactor will donate 85 copies of McKissack's books for the students. Brisco can be reached via e-mail at blkpoetess68@hotmail.com. Other local writewrs making presentations at the festival include Sherry Lucille, Allen Ruff and Andreal Davis. There will also be some spoken word performances sponsored by UW's OMAI. So there is something for everyone at the Wisconsin Book Festival. For a complete listing of all of writers and presentations at the 2007 Wisconsin Book Festival, visit their website at www.wisconsinbookfestival.org. |
| Wisconsin Book Festival Promoting local expression By Jonathan Gramling |
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| (The staff of the Wisconsin Book Festival. L-R) Jacob Gmage, Deena Wortzel, Alison Jones Chaim (Director), Shoshauna Shy, Fabu Carter Brisco and Jessica Becker. (Not in photo are Dean Bakopoulos (WI Humanities Council Director) and Michael Kean) |