2010-12 Fiction MFA Meghan O'Gieblyn reads from her award-winning essay,
"Sniffing Glue," at Avol's Books. Photo © Oliver Bendorf, 2011-13 MFA.

Upcoming Readings

The Program in Creative Writing's various readings series bring writers and writing professionals to the Madison campus each semester to read from their work, discuss the writing life, or otherwise engage with our writing community. We encourage all Madison community members to sign up to receive e-mails about upcoming literary events.

Below you’ll find a more-or-less complete schedule of upcoming literary events in Madison, which will be updated as changes occur. All readings are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Special, featured events sponsored by the Program in Creative Writing are featured in bold text. You can also subscribe to our Google Calendar (excerpted at left) to see how these events fit into your schedule and to keep constant tabs on what’s happening around town on your phone or other device. If you have an event that you would like added to our calendar, please contact the Readings Coordinator, Sean Bishop.

SEPTEMBER 22, 4:30PM, H.C. WHITE HALL RM 4207
     The Center for the History of Print & Digital Culture Presents
     “The Poetry, Politics, and Insanity Trials of Wisconsin Poetess Maud Phillips,”
     a lecture by professor Stephanie Farrar, UW-Eau Claire

SEPTEMBER 24, 8:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 Winnebago St)
     Monsters of Poetry presents Sean Bishop, Cole Lavalais,
     Nancy Reddy, and Angela Woodward

SEPTEMBER 28, 6:30PM, PREDOLIN HUMANITIES CENTER,
RM 329 (1000 Edgewood College Dr)
     Edgewood College presents novelist Masande Ntshanga,
     author of The Reactive

SEPTEMBER 29, 7:00PM, MYSTERY TO ME (1863 Monroe St)
     Double Book Launch! Jesse Lee Kercheval & Jon Loomis

OCTOBER 3, 7:00PM, DOWNTOWN MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY (201 W Mifflin)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents Pulitzer Prize
     winning author Robert Olen Butler

OCTOBER 14, 8:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 Winnebago St)
     Uruguayan & Polish Poetry in Translation, featuring
     Jesse Lee Kercheval, Karen Kovacik, Catherine Jagoe, and others.

OCTOBER 20, 5:30PM, DOWNTOWN MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY (201 W Mifflin)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents America Invertida, an anthology of
     emerging Uruguayan poets, edited by Jesse Lee Kercheval

OCTOBER 20, 7:00PM, DOWNTOWN MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY (201 W Mifflin)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents poet Melissa Range, reading
     from her National Poetry Series winning collection, Scriptorium

OCTOBER 21, 7:30PM, A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W Gorham)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents poet James Galvin

OCTOBER 22, 3:00PM, A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W Gorham)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents a craft talk by fiction writer Benjamin Percy

OCTOBER 22, 7:30PM, DOWNTOWN MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY (201 W Mifflin)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents Pulitzer Prize
     winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen

OCTOBER 22, 8:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 Winnebago St)
     Monsters of Poetry presents Jamel Brinkley, Natalie Eilbert, Matt Hart, & Amanda Smeltz

OCTOBER 23, NOON, DOWNTOWN MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY (201 W Mifflin)
     Wisconsin Book Fest presents poet Rita Mae Reese

OCTOBER 27, 7:00PM, H.C. WHITE HALL RM 6191
     Asian American Studies presents Charles Yu, author of
     How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

OCTOBER 27, 7:30PM, ELVEHJEM BUILDING RM L160
     The Center for the Humanities presents “The Poem Is You,”
     a lecture by poet and critic Stephen Burt

NOVEMBER 9, 7:00PM, DOWNTOWN MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY (201 W Mifflin)
     FELIX & The Program in Creative Writing present author/poet Eileen Myles

The Program in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been host to many of the best novelists, essayists, story-writers and poets in the country. In the past four years alone, we've featured writers the likes of Jonis Agee, Ann Beattie, Michael Cunningham, Carl Djerassi, Junot Diaz, Mark Doty, Jonathan Franzen, Lauren Groff, Terrance Hayes, Adam Haslett, and Maurice Manning, and many more, not to mention visiting editors and agents on the lookout for the next generation of American literature.

In the coming months and year, we hope to share the liveliness and vibrancy of Madison with the larger literary community. Check back here for video and audio of our featured readers.