READ ON. A montage of images from previous Chippewa Valley Book Festival events.

Lovers of the written word will want to bookmark this one: The Chippewa Valley Book Festival will return Oct. 20-25, bringing a plethora of in-person and virtual events to readers in the Chippewa Valley. Among the highlights will be some of the first events held at the newly remodeled L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in downtown Eau Claire. As if that isn’t enough of a draw for literary lovers, the festival will feature 11 authors – both nationally known and local – from a variety of backgrounds and genres.

The fest begins Thursday, Oct. 20, with a virtual presentation by Nadia Owusu, a Ghanaian and Armenian American writer whose memoir, Aftershocks, ended up on a bunch of “best books of the year” lists in 2021. It continues Friday, Oct. 21, with the Nadine St. Louis Memorial Poetry Conversation between Dorothy Chan, a poet and UW-Eau Claire professor, and Leila Chatti, an award-winning Tunisian American poet who teaches at UW-Madison.

Saturday, Oct. 22, will be jam-packed with events – most combining in-person and virtual options – featuring novelist Jackie Polzin, novelist Allen Eskens, Wisconsin novelist Amy E. Reichert, essayist Barrett Swanson, chef and author Alan Bergo, and novelist Jamie Ford. Events continue on Monday, Oct. 24, with a presentation by Hawaiian novelist Kawai Strong Washburn. The festival wraps up Tuesday, Oct, 25, with the Valley’s own Patti See, author of the recently published Here on Lake Hallie.

Learn more about the festival and how you can take part at cvbookfest.org.