Upcoming Readings

The Program in Creative Writing brings writers and writing professionals to Madison 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. 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.

NOVEMBER 16, 7:00PM, MAIAHAUS (402 E MIFFLIN)—Monsters of Poetry presents Bill Carty, Michelle Peñaloza, Andre Perry, and Rachel Yoder. (More Info.)

NOVEMBER 16, 7:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 WINNEBAGO)—A.L.L. and the Watershed Reading Series present poets Rebecca Hazelton (reading from Gloss), Jesse Lee Kercheval (reading stories from Underground Women), and Angie Trudell Vasquez (reading from The Force Your Face Carries). (More Info.)

NOVEMBER 18, 6:00PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)— A Room of One’s Own presents Jaquira Díaz, author of the memoir Ordinary Girls. (More Info)

NOVEMBER 19, 2:30PM, MEMORIAL LIBRARY RM 126 (728 STATE ST)—The Asian American Studies Program and the Department of English present poet Michelle Peñaloza, author of Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire.

NOVEMBER 20, 7:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 WINNEBAGO)—A.L.L. and the Watershed Reading Series present “Another Voice Sings: Uruguayan Women Poets,” featuring Jesse Lee Kercheval, Jeannine Pitas, and William Blair. (More Info.)

NOVEMBER 25, 4:00PM, H.C. WHITE RM 6191 (600 N PARK ST)—The FELIX Series of New Writing and the Americanist Lecture Series present Chris Kraus, author of After Kathy Acker, I Love Dick, and Social Practices.

JANUARY 29, 6:00PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)— A Room of One’s Own presents Garth Greenwell, author of the novels Cleanness and What Belogs to You. (More Info)

FEBRUARY 13, 7:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S MADISON ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The UW-Madison Center for the Humanities presents novelist, educator, and Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James, author of Black Leopard Red Wolf and A Brief History of Seven Killings. (More Info.)

MARCH 3, TIME & LOCATION TBD—The UW-Madison Program in Creative Writing presents Amy Quan Barry, reading from her new novel We Ride Upon Sticks, a feminist coming-of-age story about field-hockey-playing witches in late-1980s Danvers, Massachusetts.

MARCH 23, 7:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S COMMUNITY ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The UW-Madison Program in Creative Writing presents Emma Binder, Angela Boyd, James Eberhard, Kathryn Harlan, Sean Hayes, and Danie Shokoohi: the graduating MFAs in fiction.

MARCH 25, TIME & LOCATION TBD—The FELIX Series of New Writing and the UW Program in Creative Writing present poet Marilyn Chin.

APRIL 9, TIME & LOCATION TBD (201 W MIFFLIN)—The UW-Madison Program in Creative Writing and the Wisconsin Book Festival present novelist and Paris Review editor Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League.

APRIL 16, 7:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S COMMUNITY ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The UW-Madison Program in Creative Writing presents 2019-20 Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Poetry & Fiction Fellows Claire Agnes, R. Cassandra Bruner, Sean Hammer, Clemonce Heard, Wes Holtermann, Gabriel Louis, Natasha Oladokun, and Xandria Phillips.

APRIL 30, 7:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S COMMUNITY ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The UW-Madison Program in Creative Writing presents the 2020 undergraduate and graduate creative writing awards ceremony, with special guest TBA.