Whether it be through impassioned debates about health care, local elections, or the latest Badger game results, one thing is for certain: Madison is a city rich with multifaceted opinions and beliefs. “Beliefs” is the theme of this year’s Wisconsin Book Festival, which kicks off Wednesday night at the Overture Center.
What began as a celebration in 2002 modeled after the first national book festival in Washington D.C., the Wisconsin Book Festival has grown steadily into a large-scale event with 92 sub-events in 31 different venues around Madison.
“It was never meant to be in one place…we wanted to have a street festival flavor to it, (even though our events are inside) to celebrate downtown Madison,” festival director Alison Jones Chaim said.
Despite the common belief that people are reading less while lost in a sea of technology, the Wisconsin Book Festival’s audience has only been rising: While an estimated 8,000 booklovers attended the inaugural festival, last year’s count was up to 15,000 attendees. “It’s grown in awareness and is a part of the landscape in terms of the year’s cultural events here,” Chaim said.
A program of the Wisconsin Humanities Council and supported by organizations including the Overture Center, Isthmus and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Wisconsin Book Festival is meant to stir up ideological discussion among Madison community members. “The goal is…to bring people together to interface, dialogue, converse about issues that are important to them,” Chaim said. “People’s beliefs are often very tightly held, and if we can bring strangers together to share information about their beliefs and how they acquired those beliefs in their lifetime, I think it can help to grow a community by increasing people’s awareness and empathy of others’ backgrounds and experiences.”
Although this year’s theme unifies the festival as a whole, events will take on a vast variety of topics and issues. “We want to maintain the festival as a ‘something for everyone’ type of event with a diversity of events that reflect the diversity about which books are published,” Chaim said.
Exploring this diversity of events, Chaim shared some anticipated festival highlights with The Badger Herald that might pique student and community interest.
” Friday Night: Festival of Fiction – 8-10:30 p.m. at the Barrymore Theatre
In what Chaim describes as the “revival of our smash, high-energy event,” the fiction fest has previously been the book festival’s big hit, rapidly showcasing multiple authors onstage with short works of fiction, one right after another. This year’s celebration will feature four authors: Gary Shteyngart, Susanna Daniel, Danielle Evans and Lan Samantha Chang.
” Saturday: Madison ‘Zine Fest 2010: Underground Publishing Fair – 12-6 p.m. at College Library
Even with the technological revolution at hand, ‘zines – handmade Xeroxed and stapled underground publications about any topic from punk to science fiction – continue to prosper. “There’s huge room for individuality and creativity…’zines are still alive and thriving, despite the fact that the Internet has all kinds of opportunities for self-expression,” Chaim said. ‘Zine creators, distributors and historians will host tables to bring the underground method of publication to the surface.
“Sunday: “Happy and the River,” a play by Wisconsin author David Rhodes — 4-5:30 p.m. in the Overture Center’s Playhouse
The play features Wisconsin history, the progressive movement and conservation in the story of Gaylord Nelson’s successful efforts to save the St. Croix River. A festival favorite last year with Jane Hamilton, Rhodes will attend the performance.
” Sunday: A dual presentation with Kao Kalia Yang and Judy Pasternak – 5:30-7 p.m. in the Overture Center’s Promenade Hall
Yang will discuss her Hmong family memoir, “The Latehomecomer,” retracing her family’s history through refugee camps and U.S. immigration. Pasternak will talk about her expos? “Yellow Dirt,” which reveals the U.S. government’s uranium mining on Navajo land and its subsequent radiation damage to tribe members. “The Hmong people and the Navajo people were both in relationships with the U.S. government that the people believed was to their advantage, and then there was a certain amount of betrayal in both cases,” Chaim said. “I think that even though the cultures are vastly different, it’ll be an interesting event to pull together our theme.”
Through its five-day, 94-event celebration, this year’s festival will offer countless opportunities for community exploration and discussion in enlightening and entertaining ways, certainly making it “something for everyone.”
All events at the festival are free and open to the public, kicking off 7:30 p.m. Wednesday with NPR’s Michele Norris at the Overture Center and running through Sunday. For a detailed schedule of the festival’s events, visit http://wisconsinbookfestival.org.
