Profiles of participating authors in the Festival of Books.
Liam Callanan is a novelist, essayist and creator of the Poetry Everywhere animated film series. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, whose English department he will chair next year.
Trudy Knauss Paradis was born in Milwaukee to German immigrant parents. She was raised in a close-knit Milwaukee neighborhood, where residents regularly spoke German on the street. Trudy graduated from Milwaukee-Downer college with a degree in Sociology and Economics. She then took a position with the Department of Army Civilian Read more
Susan Marshall is an author, speaker and independent business owner whose career spans more than 25 years and includes a wide range of experiences. From an early start as an advertising assistant, she progressed through a series of marketing and general amangement roles before founding Executive Advisor, LLC in 1997. Read more
Mary Rickert grew up in Fredonia, Wisconsin. She is the author of the World Fantasy Award winning short story collection, “Map of Dreams.” Her work has been anthologized in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Interfictions 2, Best American Fantasy 2, Poe’s Children, and Read more
After earning her Masters in Counseling Psychology, Deborah Lynn Jacobs worked as a counselor at a community college in Ontario. After ten years, she and her husband and children moved to the isolated northern town of Kenora, Ontario. There, she taught college courses in psychology as well as pre-employment and Read more
Chuck Stebelton works as Literary Program Director at Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee. He is author of Circulation Flowers (Tougher Disguises, 2005). Recent print objects and chapbooks include ‘Tis’ (The John Riepenhoff Experience, 2009); A Maximal Object (Mitzvah Chaps, 2008); Flags and Banners (Bronze Skull Press, 2007); and Precious Read more
Nicholas Michael Ravnikar teaches writing, reading and communication (but not necessarily in that order) at Gateway Technical College in Racine and Kaplan University in Milwaukee. In addition to facilitating a variety of non-profit arts workshops over the past nine years, he produced the feature-length documentary Quilts on Barns: The Beauty Read more
Patrick Rothfuss published his first book, The Name of the Wind, in 2007. Since then the book has become a New York Times best seller, been praised by authors such as Ursula K LeGuin, and won various awards around the world. When he is not working on the sequel, The Read more
Karen McQuestion’s essays have appeared in Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Christian Science Monitor and several anthologies. She is the author of six books self-published on Amazon’s Kindle, one of which, the novel, A Scattered Life, caught the attention of an L.A. based production company and became the first self-published Read more
As Senior Editorial Contributor for Publishers Weekly, Barbara Vey brings readers and writers together with her popular Beyond Her Book blog. From her entertaining “Drive By Videos” to reader feedback on books with WW Ladies Book Club, YA Saturday Book Club, Your Turn Friday, BHB continues to grow into a Read more