The Wisconsin Book Festival, presented by Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation, presents free, public author events that celebrate books and spark conversations. Each year, the festival creates a robust schedule of accomplished and new writers whose fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books appeal to all ages of readers. The Festival presents stand-alone events throughout the year with a culminating celebration each fall. The 2023 Fall Celebration, which includes 50+ author events, is October 19-22. Visit our website on September 7, when we will release the schedule.
The festival is committed to presenting a mix of in-person and virtual events that are free and open to the public.
The Wisconsin Humanities Council founded the festival in 2001; the library and foundation took over festival leadership in 2013.
Since then, we have hosted more than 900 writers, including: