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.
SEPTEMBER 19, 7:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM 301 (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents Jesse Lee Kercheval, reading from her new poetry collection America that island off the coast of France, and Rebecca Dunham, reading from Strike. (More Info.)
SEPTEMBER 20, 6:00PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents Oliver Baez Bendorf, reading from his new poetry collection Advantages of Being Evergreen, with Jennifer Nelson (Civilization Makes Me Lonely). (More Info.)
SEPTEMBER 21, 7:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 WINNEBAGO)—A.L.L. presents “The Nineteenth Amendment Reading,” featuring fiction and poetry by Emma Binder, Angela Boyd, Kathryn Harlan, and I. S. Jones. (More Info.)
SEPTEMBER 27, 7:00PM, MAIAHAUS (402 E MIFFLIN)—Monsters of Poetry presents Matt Hart, Clemonce Heard, and Jesse Lee Kercheval. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 3, 6:30PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)—FELIX: A Series of New Writing presents poet Laura Eve Engel, reading from her debut collection Things That Go. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 9, 6:00PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)—Poet Xandria Phillips, reading from their debut poetry collection HULL. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 17, 5:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents Jake Wolff, reading from his debut novel The History of Living Forever. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 17, 7:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents poet Kevin Coval, reading from Everything Must Go. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 17, 7:00PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)—The Wisconsin Book Fest presents a poetry reading by Shira Erlichman, author of Odes to Lithium. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 17, 6:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents novelist Susan Richards Shreve, reading from More News Tomorrow. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 18, 7:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents novelist and National Book Award Finalist Téa Obreht, reading from Inland. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, NOON, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents novelist and short story writer Kate Wisel, reading from Driving In Cars with Homeless Men. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, NOON, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM 301 (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams, reading from her new essay collection, Make It Scream, Make It Burn. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, 1:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents novelist Lydia Fitzpatrick, reading from Lights All Night Long. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, 4:30PM, ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (315 W GORHAM)—The Watershed Reading Series, Arts & Literature Lab, and Wisconsin Book Fest present a poetry reading by James Arthur, Jeffrey Levine, and Anders Carlson-Wee. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, 4:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents Xuan Juliana Wang, reading from her short story collection Home Remedies. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, 6:00PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents novelist Karl Marlantes, reading from Deep River. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 19, 7:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY’S “BUBBLER” ROOM (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival presents poets Tiana Clark, author of I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood, and Rebecca Hazelton, author of Gloss. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 20, 1:30PM, MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM 302 (201 W MIFFLIN)—The Wisconsin Book Festival and American Short Fiction present Barrett Swanson & Tia Clark. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 20, 7:00PM, JOHNSON PUBLIC HOUSE (908 E JOHNSON ST)—702wi presents Jeannie Vanasco, reading from her memoir Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl, followed by a conversation with Michelle Wildgen. (More Info.)
OCTOBER 24, 7:00PM, MYSTERY TO ME (1863 MONROE ST)—A poetry reading featuring Jesse Lee Kercheval, Andrea Potos, Robin Chapman, and Dan Veach. (More Info.)
NOVEMBER 16, 7:00PM, LOCATION TBD—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 20, 7:00PM, ARTS & LITERATURE LAB (2021 WINNEBAGO)—A.L.L. and the Watershed Reading Series present “A Night of Uruguayan Poetry,” featuring Jesse Lee Kercheval, Jeannine Pitas, and William Blair. (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 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.
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.