Madison BookBeat

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Lisa Malawski talks with prolific author Jacquelyn Mitchard. Mitchard is now a frequent lecturer and professor of fiction and creative nonfiction at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpellier.

She once worked as a journalist at several Wisconsin newspapers, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Capital Times, where her husband also worked before his sudden death - a tragedy that prompted her to write her first book.

Lisa interviewed Jacquelyn for her book, A Very Inconvenient Scandal, published by MIRA/Harper Collins in November 2023. It's a title Jacquelyn says she hates and was forced to change.

Lisa and Jacquelyn sit down for a conversation about the importance of titling, dreaming through your characters, and how Jacquelyn prompted Oprah to start her infamous Book Club.

Jacquelyn loves telling stories. She tells Lisa she can't imagine a life without it, saying: "They say the history of humankind is shards of pottery, but it isn't. It's stories."

You can find more about Jacquelyn Mitchard at her website, jacquelynmitchard.com, where you can also sign up for her newsletter. You can also follow her Substack accounts, Everything Explained.

For more than a decade, Greg Mickells led the Madison Public Library. He's responsible for a significant transformation of the Madison library system.

His tenure as Director took him to three continents, and to the White House in 2016, when Madison Public Library was recognized with a National Medal for Museum and Library Service. Additional awards received under Mickells' leadership include a Wisconsin Innovation Award for "The Bubbler" program, and as a Top Innovator by the Urban Libraries Council in the Race and Social Equity category.

Under his hand, the Library has transformed significantly over the last decade. Three libraries - Central, Meadowridge, and Pinney - have been expanded and renovated. The Library's taken over the Wisconsin Book Festival, launched The Bubbler program, launched the Dream Bus, and navigated safe library service during the pandemic. Dozens of community-based partnerships have been established under his leadership.

As of February 2, Mickells is retired from his post as Director of the Madison Library System, after eleven years at the helm. He was feted earlier this month with a retirement party, where foundation Executive Director Conor Moran, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Madison Public Library Board President Alyssa Kenney, staff, community partners, and friends praised Greg for his kindness, care for his staff, and vision for making Madison Public Library a national and even international leader in the library world.

WORT host David Ahrens - who got the chance to work with Mickells as a former Madison alder - sat down with Mickells shortly before his retirement for this exit interview.

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Andrew Thomas speaks with Peter Coviello on his book of essays Is There God After Prince? Dispatches from an Age of Last Things (2023, University of Chicago Press).

Exuberant, effusive, rye, and incisive, this collection of essays analyze a wide range of cultural objects in order to shore up some modicum of consolation against an intractable sense of impending doom. By focusing on beloved novels, films, and songs and the joyful connections they help foster between friends, families, and lovers, Coviello argues that these attachments are small mercies that buoy us up in light of what he terms “endstrickenness.” With verve and agility, Coviello surveys a large swath of contemporary culture in an effort to rethink what literary criticism can do and to assure us that not all of contemporary life is a wasteland of broken images. Joyful reading plain and simple.

Peter Coviello is the author of six books, including Make Yourselves Gods, a finalist for the 2020 John Whitmer Historical Association Best Book Prize; Tomorrow’s Parties, a 2013 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Studies; and Long Players, a memoir selected as one of ARTFORUM’s Ten Best Books of 2018. His newest book, Is There God After Prince?: Dispatches from an Age of Last Things, was selected as a “Most Anticipated” title by both The Millions and the Lambda Literary Review, and appeared in year-end lists for 2023 from the Chicago Tribune, the Seminary Co-op Bookstore, and elsewhere. He taught for many years at Bowdoin College and since 2014 has been at UIC, where he is Professor and Head of English.

You can follow him @pcoviell.

Image courtesy of University of Chicago Press

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Lisa Malawski talks with local poet Shoshauna Shy.

Shoshauna Shy has been involved in local poetry and literary events for decades. She founded the Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf program in 2004, a project with the mission of placing poetry in public places where it isn't expected.

She's previously worked for the Wisconsin Humanities Council, where she helped create, coordinate and facilitate poetry programs for the Wisconsin Book Festival when it was just getting started.

Shoshauna and Lisa met at Sequoya Library, during the 2024 Wisconsin Poets' Calendar Reading. They extend their conversation into the studio for this show, where Shoshauna reads some of her poems, talks about her foray into flash fiction, and shares how her 2017 book The Splash of Easy Laughter came to be.

On this edition of Madison BookBeat, host Cole Erickson interviews Heather Swan about her latest book Dandelion, a collection of poetry which explores our uniquely human relationship with this natural world, not only in its wondrous beauty, but also in its devastation and fragility.

About the guest:

Heather Swan is a poet, non-fiction writer, and educator in Madison. Her poetry includes the collection A Kinship with Ash,  which was a finalist for the ASLE Book Award, and her chapbook The Edge of Damage, which was the winner of the Wisconsin Chapbook Award.

She is also the author of the non-fiction book Where Honeybees Thrive: Stories from the Field, which won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award.   A companion book to Where Honeybees Thrive is expected to be released later this year, titled Where the Grass Still Sings: Stories of Insects and Interconnection. 

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host David Ahrens talks with with Thomas Pearson.

Thomas Pearson is a professor of anthropology at UW-Stout, where he also leads the social science department.

As a cultural anthropologist, he understands and appreciates the diversity of cultures and expressions of a common humanity. After the birth of his daughter, who has Down’s Syndrome, he documents his struggle towards broadening the concept of humanity to all people-including those who are differently able and thinking about how we can enable them to achieve their full capabilities.

That complexity and exploration of evolving ideas of disability and difference is outlined in his new book and the subject of today’s interview. It’s called Margaret Mead, the Problem of Disability, and a Child Born Different, published in fall 2023 from the University of California Press.

In addition to numerous academic articles and essays, Thomas Pearson is also the author of “When the Hills Are Gone: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community,” published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2017.

The Dane County Farmers' Market is the largest producers-only farmers market in the nation. Last year, it celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In celebration of that significant milestone, the DCFM has released a hardcover, full-color, 258-page cookbook. The Dane County Farmers' Market Cookbook (published this year by Little Creek Press) features 125 recipes that give a global spin to locally-sourced ingredients.

With a foreword written by chef Tory Miller, and photographs by Bill Lubing, the cookbook is written by Terese Allen. 

She's the author of a variety of local food columns, and author of several other books, including The Flavor of Wisconsin: An Informal History of Food and Eating in the Badger State, Fresh Market Wisconsin: Recipes, Resources and Stories Celebrating Wisconsin Farm Markets and Roadside Stands, and The Ovens of Brittany Cookbook.

She's a co-founder and longtime leader of the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) and past president of REAP Food Group.

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, Terese joins host David Ahrens to talk about Madison's unique food culture, what it means to be a "foodist", and what makes the Dane County Farmers' Market so special.

Stu Levitan’s guest is UW history professor Stephen Kantrowitz, whose new book should be of special interest to those of us here in Teejop. It’s Citizens of a Stolen Land: A Ho-Chunk History of the 19th Century United States from the good people at the University of North Carolina Press.

If you are like most Americans with an immigrant background, you probably think citizenship is a good thing, because it confers rights and privileges. But for Native Americans in the 19th century, it was something quite different – it was a way to destroy their collectivist culture and ultimately steal their land. Until some Native peoples – notably the Ho-Chunk – figured out how to use citizenship and private property rights to reclaim land and preserve their identity. The Ho-Chunk story in the Removal Era is one of both settler/colonial violence and conquest, but also one of Ho-Chunk resistance, persistence, and return.

It is a story Stephen Kantrowitz is very qualified to tell. He is the Plaenert-Bascom and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History an affiliate faculty member in American Indian Studies and Afro-American Studies, here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaching courses on race, indigeneity, politics, and citizenship. His previous books are More Than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889 (Penguin, 2012) and Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy (UNC Press, 2000).

And of particular interest to me, he co-chaired with Dr. Floyd Rose, president of 100 Black Men of Madison, the chancellor’s committee in 2018 that produced a very knowledgeable and nuanced report on KKK on campus.

Al Jarreau is one of the most beloved musical artists to come out of Milwaukee, and his music – from jazz to pop to R&B – defies easy classification. He performed with a bevy of jazz musicians, and blended an eclectic mix of other styles into his work.

But Jarreau is perhaps best known for his live performances and expressive vocal improvisation. When he passed away in 2017, the New York Times wrote of Jarreau’s “virtuosic ability to produce an array of vocalizations ranging from delicious nonsense to clicks and growls to quasi-instrumental sounds.”

On this edition of Madison Book Beat, host David Ahrens sits down with Kurt Dietrich, author of Never Givin’ Up: The Life and Music of Al Jarreau (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2023). It’s the first biography of Jarreau’s life and career, and compiles details collected by Dietrich in interviews with Jarreau himself, alongside dozens of Jarreau’s friends, colleagues, and family.

Dietrich joins us to play examples of Jarreau’s eclectic talent, virtuosic vocalization, and early life in Wisconsin.

About the guest: Kurt Dietrich is professor emeritus of music at Ripon College, where he taught from 1980 to 2019. He received his master’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied trombone, and later was a trombonist with jazz fusion group Matrix.

In addition to many articles, he’s the author of three other books about jazz: Wisconsin Riffs: Jazz Profiles from the Heartland (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2018), Jazz ‘Bones: The World of Jazz Trombone (Advance Music, 2005), and Duke’s ‘Bones: Ellington’s Great Trombonists (Alfred Music, 1995). You can find more at his website, kurtdietrich.net.

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Andrew Thomas speaks with Tacey M. Atsitty about her poetry collection (At) Wrist, (2023, The University of Wisconsin Press Press).

In a fever dream of metaphor and image, Atsitty explores themes of loss, romantic love, and faith. Drawing on the familiar poetic form of the sonnet, Atsitty demonstrates how vulnerability, nakedness, and risk are an essential part of the connections we build with others across time. Delicate and visceral, (At) Wrist is a collection which "amplifies silence, so you can hear/ every crunch or offering of self."

Tacey M. Atsitty is of the Diné tribe and her clans are as follows: she is Tsénahabiłnii (Sleep Rock People) and born for Ta’neeszahnii (Tangle People). Her maternal grandfather is Tábąąhí (Water Edge People) and her paternal grandfather is Hashk’áánhadzóhí (Yucca Fruit Strung-Out-In-A-Line People) from Cove, AZ.

She is

the winner of the Wisconsin Brittingham Prize for Poetry and is a recipient of the Louis Owens Award, Truman Capote Creative Writing Fellowship, the Corson-Browning Poetry Prize, Morning Star Creative Writing Award, and the Philip Freund Prize. She holds bachelor’s degrees from Brigham Young University and the Institute of American Indian Arts, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in EPOCH, POETRY Magazine, Kenyon Review Online, Prairie Schooner, swamp pink, Literary Hub, New Poets of Native Nations, Leavings, and other publications. Her first book is Rain Scald (University of New Mexico Press, 2018). Her second book (At) Wrist is forthcoming (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023).

She is the director of the Navajo Film Festival, a member of the Board of Directors for Lightscatter Press, a member of the Advisory Council for Brigham Young University’s Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, and the founding member of the Advisory Board for the Intermountain All-Women Hoop Dance Competition.

She is a PhD candidate in the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University, where she lives with her husband.

Photo courtesy of University of Wisconsin Press