BEST FEST: Meet Two Authors Who Art Part of This Year’s C.V...

BEST FEST: Meet Two Authors Who Art Part of This Year’s C.V. Book Fest

Jonathan C. Slaght and Maggie Ginsberg talk about owls and empathy

V1 Staff | September 14, 2023

Book lovers, get ready to be extremely happy: The annual Chippewa Valley Book Festival – which runs Oct. 11-16 this year – gives readers a chance to meet each other as well as a shelf full of notable writers. With 14 free events packed into six days, there are sure to be countless thought-provoking discussions centering on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and beyond. The festival organizers were kind enough to share Q&As with a number of the authors who will be appearing, either in person or virtually, at the festival. For full details on festival events, visit cvbookfest.org or scroll to the bottom of this article for a schedule.

JONATHAN C. SLAGHT, PH.D.

Jonathan Slaght led a five-year study of an endangered and little-known owl species in Russia called the Blakiston’s fish owl, which led him to write his book, Owls of the Eastern Ice. In his presentation on Oct. 13 at the Phillips Memorial Public Library, Slaght will describe the owls and his project, the adventures and struggles of fieldwork, writing his book, and his ongoing conservation efforts with this endangered species. Registration for the event is required at cvbookfest.org.

If you had to give someone a one-sentence reason they should come to your festival event, what would it be? To learn about the nexus between owls, weirdos, and conservation.

What do you hope attendees take away from your presentation? That wildlife knows no political borders. Endangered species and the habitats they rely on are global resources to be communally celebrated and protected.

What book would you most want to read again for the first time? Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. This was the first of his books that I read and was wholly unprepared for the beautiful way he could write about terrible things. I often read it only a page or two at a time to re-read passages and savor the experience. I’d never had such a careful and intimate experience with a book before.

What are you reading right now? Crossings, by Ben Goldfarb, is about the (largely negative) impact that roads have on how animals (including people) interact with each other and the landscape, and what we can do to restore some of these broken connections.

MAGGIE GINSBERG

Maggie Ginsberg recently published her first novel, Still True, and was awarded the honorable mention selection for the 2022 Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award, the silver medalist for Literary/Contemporary/Historical fiction at the 2023 Midwest Book Awards, and is a finalist for Outstanding Debut at the 2023 Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Her presentation on Oct. 12 at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library will cover how vulnerability forges connections between readers and writers and the merit in writing the “hard stuff.” Registration for the event is required at cvbookfest.org.

If you had to give someone a one-sentence reason they should come to your festival event, what would it be? One day after my novel came out last year, I had the privilege of presenting (with the generous Nickolas Butler as a conversation partner) at the newly renovated L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library – I can’t tell you how special it feels to be coming back to present in the very room where I worked out the beginnings of my nerves and did my first public reading for this book in front of a warm, engaged, highly literary community.

What do you hope attendees take away from your presentation? How personal I believe so many novels are, and the role we readers have in shaping and shepherding the stories we all share.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? Novel writing doesn’t require the wild supernatural imagination you think it does, but rather an openness to the real world and empathy for everyone you encounter, especially yourself.

What are you reading right now? How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell, plus my fellow CVBF presenters’ books – some of which are already personal favorites.

Do you have a favorite quote about reading and/or writing? I keep a paraphrased version of Hemingway’s iceberg therapy next to my writing desk: “Know the iceberg, write the tip.”

Chippewa Valley Book Festival Kicks Off Oct. 11

It’s that time of year: the Chippewa Valley Book Festival kicks off five days of thought-provoking and inspiring author events this Wednesday. The 24th annual festival is offering both in-person and virtual options over the dates of October 11–October 16, 2023. All author events, excluding the sold-out meal program, are FREE and open to the public. Advanced registration is required and some events have already reached capacity. Virtual streaming options will be offered for all of the adult author events. See website for details.
The festival is proud to feature authors across various genres and backgrounds. Attendees at in-person events will have the opportunity to meet the authors following the presentations, purchase books, and have them signed.

Wednesday, October 11, 6:00 p.m. – Abra Berens, Cooking with Variety and Seasonality (SOLD OUT)

Thursday, October 12, 5:00 p.m. – Maggie Ginsberg, Hiding in Plain Sight: Embracing the Truth in Fiction

Thursday, October 12, 7:30 p.m. – Shelby Van Pelt, The World through Weird Eyes (in-person waitlist)

Friday, October 13, 6:00 p.m. – Nghi Vo, When Memory Becomes History: Mourning and Remembrance in Writing

Friday, October 13, 7:30 p.m. – Jonathan Slaght, Owls of the Eastern Ice

Saturday, October 14, 9:30 a.m. – Douglas Tallamy, Nature's Best Hope (in-person waitlist)

Saturday, October 14, 11:00 a.m. – Scott Spoolman, Wisconsin Waters: The Ancient History of Lakes, Rivers, and Waterfalls

Saturday, October 14, 1:00 p.m. – Melissa Faliveno, The Craft of Writing Lives—Our Own and Others

Saturday, October 14, 2:30 p.m. – Carol Dunbar, Writing Off the Grid: What Can Nature Teach Us About Bearing Hardship?

Saturday, October 14, 4:00 p.m. – Laura Warrell, A Writer’s Journey to Publication

Monday, October 16, 4:30 p.m. – V.V. Ganeshananthan, Brotherless Night: Political Fiction of the Recent Past

Monday, October 16, 6:00 p.m. – Nicholas Gulig and Nickolas Butler, Nadine St. Louis Memorial Poetry Conversation 2023

In addition to this year's author events, the Chippewa Valley Book Festival offers events for even the youngest reading enthusiasts. Three youth events will take place during this year's festival–all of them free and open to the public:

Thursday, October 12, 10:15 a.m. – Abra Berens, Apples with Abra at Dotters Books

Friday, October 13, 10:00 a.m. – Stephen Shaskan, Taco and Pizza: Dare to Be Scared! at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library

Sunday, October 15, 1:00 p.m. & 2:00 p.m. – Young Writers Showcase at the Grand Theatre

All the details about these events can be found at cvbookfest.org/events. For additional information or to request a book festival logo or photo to use for promotion, please contact chippewavalleybookfestival@gmail.com.