Do you remember what it was like to read for fun? When you chose to pick up a book for no other reason than for the adventure of reading? Well, good times are here again. The seventh annual Wisconsin Book Festival is taking place all around Madison this week and provides an excellent opportunity to explore new writers and learn about social issues.

Alison Jones Chaim, the Wisconsin Book Festival director, explained the idea behind the Book Fest in a phone interview with The Badger Herald. “People often think of a book sale or a book fair … [but in fact] the Book Festival is basically a hundred of what we feel are really good humanities events, so literature and all other subjects within the humanities can be represented.”

The events, which take place Oct. 15 to 19, are hosted by over 40 locations around Madison, from bookstores and libraries to theaters and University of Wisconsin buildings.

The festival opens with two important environmental writers: Andy Revkin, a New York Times writer with a focus on climate change, and David Orr, an author of five books and professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin College, Ohio. “They both have a really great perspective on what our festival’s theme is, which is ‘Trading Places.’ … We’re trying to get into how people change places and how places change people,” Chaim explained.

Revkin and Orr, on the top of Chaim’s must-see list, will be speaking at the Overture Center for the Arts this Wednesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday night is full of multiple big-name writers, including Judy Blume, author of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” and a broad range of books geared at children through adults. She will be speaking at the Memorial Union Theater Wednesday 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets to hear her speech ? which will be intended for adults ? are free and must be picked up before the performance at the Union Theater Box Office.

Also speaking on Wednesday is Christian Lander, author of the blog and book “Stuff White People Like.” He will be discussing his work from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Borders Books & Music (west side location).

Chaim emphasized that the festival, sponsored by the Wisconsin Humanities Council, relies on over 20 donors who work to make the events this week possible. “The community makes this happen,” Chaim said.

Thanks to the sponsors, each day of the festival is chock-full of cultural and local speakers, with topics ranging from rural Wisconsin to Latinos in Milwaukee and Waukesha to Muslim youth.

“We do try to push it so that it’s not just the author being a talking head behind a podium. We get authors together in groups so that there’s dialogue, and we really try to fulfill a tight community dialogue as well,” Chaim explained.

In one such merging of authors, John Lehman, editor of Wisconsin People and Ideas, and Andrea Musher, poet and UW-Whitewater professor, will be holding a lecture titled “The Writer’s Cave: True Stories of Why We Write What We Do,” which evaluates the creative writing process. Their lecture takes place next Sunday, Oct. 19, 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Frederic March Play Circle Theater in Memorial Union.

For individuals looking for something new to read, there will be a Friends of UW-Madison book sale with no cover charge Thursday through Saturday at Memorial Library. Following the sale Saturday, the extra books will be free from 1 to 2 p.m.

For those who haven’t had the time to pick up a new author or follow today’s current issues, the book sale is a great opportunity to pick up something new. As Chaim explained, people may become interested in something they never considered before, and that’s the beauty of the festival itself.

“Whether it’s a poet you’ve never heard before, and you are reading poetry for the first time in a long time because you’re so busy usually, or whether it’s an issue that you hadn’t been really informed about but you decide to become active [in],” the Book Fest offers many opportunities for learning, Chaim explained.

So put down the textbook for an hour or two to hear an author speak ? it could be the perfect opportunity to discover new writers and raise awareness for issues around the world.

The Wisconsin Book Festival is Oct. 15 to 19. For a complete listing of events, see www.wisconsinbookfestival.org.