Cardigans and courage: The A.V. Club's Wisconsin Book Festival highlights

For five days each fall, the Wisconsin Book Festival transforms Madison into a literary hotbed crawling with writers, as well as those people who still get excited about planting their asses in a chair and reading honest-to-goodness words printed on bound pages. It’s nice, because these days “famous author” is on par with “popular jazz musician”—a phrase that rolls off the tongue, but feels like an oxymoronic holdover from a bygone era. Since this year’s official festival theme is “courage,” here’s The A.V. Club’s guide to the can’t-miss events, as well as those that’ll make your halfsies and cardigan feel like a suit of armor.

Wednesday, Oct. 7
Can’t-miss: Gregory Maguire (Wisconsin Union Theater)
Who: Famed literary revisionist Gregory Maguire’s mega-hit Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West re-imagined the famous crone from L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, and spawned a franchise that includes 2005’s Son Of A Witch and the new A Lion Among Men.
Why: Any author who can take a story as beloved as The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and make it fresh and exciting for a generation of non-readers is worth a look.

Courageous: Amelia Klem Osetrud and James A. Levine (Overture Center - Wisconsin Studio)
Who: Amelia Klem Osterud’s The Tattooed Lady: A History explores the backstories of the circus sideshow women who covered their bodies in art long before every toolbox walking down the street has a barbed-wire armband. Joining her is James A. Levine, whose book The Blue Notebook is a fictional, diaristic look at an Indian girl from Mumbai who’s sold into prostitution by her father.
Why: True strength is rarely measured by how much a person can bench-press.

Thursday, Oct. 8
Can’t-miss: Lorrie Moore and Michael Perry (Orpheum Theatre)
Who: Lorrie Moore and Michael Perry are arguably Wisconsin’s two best-known authors, and with good reason: Moore is one of the all-time masters of the short story form (and recently released her third novel, A Gate At The Stairs), and the folksy humor in Perry’s memoirs is the perfect complement to his formidable and often heartbreaking storytelling chops.
Why: On the surface this seems like an odd pairing—The New Yorker goes to the farm—though both authors share a unique ability to write honestly and passionately about the place we call home.

Courageous: Phil Hanrahan (Orpheum Theatre)
Who: Phil Hanrahan’s decision to chronicle a Packers season in Life After Favre a year after the team’s most iconic player left might seem like an un-winnable task. Instead, Hanrahan weaves together a much deeper tale of a city and fan base who are certainly bound by the team, but in no way defined by it.
Why: Favre regressed into a self-absorbed media whore some years ago, so it’s probably time we all move on.

Friday, Oct. 9
Can’t-miss: Jonah Lehrer (Overture Center - Promenade Hall)
Who: In his debut, Proust Was A Neuroscientist, wunderkind science writer Jonah Lehrer examines how different artists like Proust and Cézanne predicted scientific breakthroughs in their work. In his latest, How We Decide, Lehrer joins the Gladwellian world of pop-sci proselytizers in deconstructing why exactly we do what we do. (So maybe it’s not all your fault.)
Why: Because 27-year-olds who’ve written for The New Yorker, Nature, and Wired are probably smarter than you, and it’s always fun to learn new things.

Courageous: Wade Rouse (A Room of One's Own)
Who: After memoirist Wade Rouse covered growing up gay in the Ozarks in America’s Boy and dealing with the horror of being the Director of Public Relations at a prestigious East Coast prep school in Confessions Of A Prep School Mommy Handler, he decided to pack it all and head to the country. Just not in the same restrained spirit as Henry David Thoreau's Walden; instead, he ended up with a book entitled At Least In The City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures In Search Of The Simple Life. His city-boy-out-of-water story should provide plenty of laughs for those who live that same life every day here in Wisconsin.
Why: Stunt journalism can have a tendency to fall into self-parody—or even worse, smugness—and thankfully Rouse’s adventures never do.

Saturday, Oct. 10
Can’t-miss: Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle (Overture Center - Promenade Hall)
Who: Long a legendary voice in the small but rabid subculture of underground comics, Harvey Pekar welcomed the masses into his neurotic and fascinating world with the big-screen adaptation of his American Splendor series. Pekar’s latest is a take on Stud Terkel’s classic, Working, and he’ll be speaking with Paul Buhle—an academic who’s written numerous books on radicalism and pop culture. Immediately following Pekar will be author, cartoonist, and WBF regular Lynda Barry, who’ll appear with Buhle again and with the founder of The Center For The History Of Print Culture in Modern America, James Danky.
Why: What Pekar has to say is good enough for Robert Crumb, Gilbert Hernandez, and pretty much every other comic-book artist who even remotely matters.

Courageous: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn (Overture Center - Wisconsin Studio)
Who: Bill Ayers became a lightning rod for headlines during the 2008 presidential election after the right uncovered his supposed links to Barack Obama. Ayers is a longtime radical activist and anti-war protester, and his co-author and wife Bernardine Dohrn will discuss Race Course Against White Supremacy, an exposé of the bigotry found in education, war policy, election processes, and the U.S. criminal justice system.
Why: Even in a city as forward-thinking as Madison, Ayers’ appearance is likely to inspire some fireworks.

Sunday, Oct. 11
Can’t-miss: Wendell Berry (Overture Center - Overture Hall)
Who: Wendell Berry is a prolific poet, novelist, essayist, and all-around man-about-the-farm, and his headlining gig is likely to be a big draw. His work often focuses on his strong ties to pastoral life, as well as associated topics that inspire religious-style fervor in Madison: sustainability, local food, environmental stewardship, and building healthy rural communities. Over the course of his 50-plus published books, Berry’s been a staunch supporter of environmental issues, as well as a consistent voice of anti-war dissent.
Why: It’s easy to throw out the term “man of letters” when a writer or public intellectual’s work defies simple classification, but considering the breadth and reach of Berry’s accomplishments, it’s more than appropriate.

Courageous: Michael Rosen and Kim Nielsen (A Room of One's Own)
Who: When Michael Rosen’s son decided to take part in a game of pick-up baseball in the park, he had no idea that he’d bring home five new friends—all of them black and Hispanic. This group eventually started referring to Rosen and his wife as their parents, and in What Else But Home, Rosen—a former Wall Street CEO—explores these relationships, and how they surpassed race and class to strengthen his own familial bonds. Rosen will be joined by Kim Nielsen, author of Beyond the Miracle Worker.
Why: Wall Street CEOs and multi-racial parks in New York City might seem a world away from Madison, but home isn’t so much where you make it, but rather how.