We were really excited by the caliber of presenters we have at the 2013 Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books which was held Friday, Sept. 20 through Sunday, Sept. 22 on the UW-Waukesha campus. As we geared up for the big event, we kept our eye out for presenter “sightings” to share them with you.

PoeCardenas Photo (Bridge) (3)t Brenda Cárdenas appeared at the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 1:30 p.m. She, along with poets Virginia Bell, Marci Whiteman Johnson, Dipika Mukherjee, Lana Rakhman, and Christine Rhen will read selections based on “Inspired By: Through the Word-Camera.” Additional information can be found at: http://www.womanmade.org/poetry.html.

 Kathie Giorgio, one of the Festival’s keynote speakers, was featured on Lake Effect  which airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on Milwaukee Public Radio, 89.7. Host Stephanie Lecci talked with Giorgio Giorgio BookCoveron Tuesday, Aug. 27 and again on Thursday, Sept. 16 about the release of her latest novel, Learning to Tell (A Life) Time and it’s launch at the 2013 Southeast Festival of Books. The novel is the sequel to Giorgio’s 2011 award-winning The Home for Wayward Clocks. Giorgio appeared today on TODAY’S TMJ4 The Morning Blend. The trailer for Learning to Tell (A Life) Time was released on August 21 and “stunning” is the word being used to describe the piece created by Mario Medina, Karen Barsamian, and Giorgio.

Author Amy Timberlake appeared at the Chippewa Valley Book Festival the weekend of September 28 (http://www.cvbookfest.org) and the Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival in October, (http://sheboyganchildrensbookfestival.org). She was tapped to give the keynote talk for the DeKalb, Illinois’s city-wide “Big Read” event Tuesday, Oct. 1. She also received word that her book One Came Home made the Andersons Bookshop’s Mock Newbery List, http://www.andersonsbookshop.com/mock_newbery

The Windy Hill Brass will be appeared at the Festival on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 1:30 p.m. in the HUB. On Saturday, Sept. 28 they made a guest appearance at the Waukesha Farmers’ Market behind the Waukesha Civic Theater.

The Repeat Year Cover Final (3)The August 2013 Milwaukee Magazine featured an article written by Andrea Lochen, one of the authors who appeared at the Festival. The article “Miss Perceptions – What happens when your debut novel winds up in the “chick-lit” section of the bookstore?” talks of how she came to terms with the “chick-lit” label attached to her first novel, The Repeat Year. She said, “I just make sure I don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal–getting good books into the hands of readers who will hopefully adore them.”