2012 Authors

The 2012 Fox Cities Reads is underway! Pick up a copy of Make the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland at your local library and join in community-wide discussions about the book. The author will visit the Fox Cities April 16-18 during the Fox Cities Book Festival.

2012 Authors

Diane Ackerman

Poet, essayist, and naturalist, Diane Ackerman is the author of two dozen highly acclaimed works of nonfiction and poetry, including A Natural History of the Senses and One Hundred Names for Love. Her recent memoir, The Zookeeper's Wife, received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as "a groundbreaking work of nonfiction, in which the human relationship to nature is explored in an absolutely original way through looking at the Holocaust.

James Balog

Balog is the author of six books, including Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest and Survivors: A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife, which was widely hailed as a major conceptual breakthrough in nature photography. Recent work includes the Extreme Ice Survey, a project that brings image-makers and scientists together to create a photographic record of global climate change.

Alex Bledsoe

Alex Bledsoe is known for his well-told stories that often combine elements of folklore, action, fantasy, and science fiction. He is the author of the popular detective/fantasy series featuring Eddie LaCrosse, a "private sword jockey" who seems to end up with a tricky mystery to solve no matter what case he takes on.

Andrea Boeshaar

Andrea Boeshaar is known for her historical and contemporary Christian romance fiction. Threads of Hope (2012), her latest book, follows the story of Kristin Eikaas, a young immigrant woman who comes to Wisconsin in 1848. Her stories with contemporary settings include Love Finds You in Mracle Kentucky (2009) and the collection Heartland Heroes (2010). She also writes inspirational non-fiction.

Chuck Carlson

Newspaper reporter and editor Chuck Carlson has written extensively about the Green Bay Packers, and his latest book on the subject, Tales from the Green Bay Packers Sideline: a Collection of the Greatest Packers Stories Ever Told (2011), contains stories about the team history and the legendary men, both on and off the field, who have made the Packers great.

Carol Higgins Clark

Carol Higgins Clark is the author of fourteen previous bestselling Regan Reilly mysteries. She is coauthor, along with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, of a bestselling holiday mystery series. Also an actress, Carol Higgins Clark studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and has recorded several of her mother's works as well as her own novels.

John Coy

John Coy is the author of the picture books Night Driving, Strong to the Hoop, Vroomaloom Zoom, Two Old Potatoes and Me, and Around the World. John is a member of the NBA Reading All-Star Team as part of the Read to Achieve program. Crackback, his first young adult novel,is about high school football and his second, Box Out, is about high school basketball.

Bruce Dethlefsen

Bruce Dethlefsen has been appointed Wisconsin Poet Laureate for the two-year term of 2011 and 2012. His mission is to promote poets and poetry in Wisconsin, and one of his goals is to help communities across the state establish local poetry reading series at libraries, schools, or coffee houses.

Steven Faulkner

Steven Faulkner teaches Creative Writing at Longwood University, a beautiful school in the forested hills of southern Virginia. He has published essays in DoubleTake, Wisconsin Trails magazine, Southern Humanities Review, Dos Passos Review and other journals.

James Feldman

A Storied Wilderness: Rewilding the Apostle Islands by James Feldman is an examination of the unique intersection of human activity, the physical environment, and the changing values we place on each of them. The book tells the history of people's interaction with the Apostle Islands.

Jay Gilbertson

Wisconsin author Jay Gilbertson spent time working in the hotel industry in Florida and running his own salon in Minnesota before he turned to writing. He had noticed many of his salon clients were successful, happy, single women, but their lives were not reflected in today's books. As Gilbertson explains, he started writing fiction in order to focus on these positive women.

Kathie Giorgio

Author Biography

The Home for Wayward Clocks (2011) is the first published novel by Wisconsin author Kathie Giorgio. The novel centers on the life of James Elgin who, after being laid off from his job, opens a clock museum. His tale is one of survival, healing, and, ultimately, triumph over economic, emotional, and physical obstacles. Giorgio's writing is noted for the intense and honest tone she uses to create a world of complexity. She is also known for her short story writing and has had stories published in such journals as Fiction International, Dos Passos Review, Harpur Palate, Ars Medica, and Potomac Review.

Giorgio is the founder and director of AllWriter's Workplace & Workshop in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She received her BA in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her MFA in fiction writing from Vermont College.

Additional Information

Victoria Houston

Victoria Houston is the author of the popular Loon Lake mystery series featuring female Chief of Police Lewellyn Ferris and retired dentist Paul Osbourne, both of whom are avid fly fishermen. Houston grew up in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and has returned there to live and write.

Jeanette Hurt

Award-winning Wisconsin author Jeanette Hurt specializes in food, wine, and travel writing. She is also the cheese contributor for "Good Fermentations" on Milwaukee Public Radio's program Lake Effect. Hurt is the author or co-author of a number of books, including: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine and Food Pairing (2010) and The Cheeses of California: A Culinary Travel Guide (2009).

Julie Hyzy

Anthony and Barry Award winner Julie Hyzy is the national bestselling author of the White House Chef Mystery series featuring the intrepid Olivia (Ollie) Paras, and the Manor House Mystery series featuring mansion curator Grace Wheaton.

Brianna Karp

Deeply compassionate and darkly funny, Brianna Karp's unforgettable memoir, The Girl's Guide to Homelessness, celebrates the courage and creativity of lives society would otherwise stigmatize. Karp began her journey as a homeless person terrified and ashamed. Fear turned to awe as she connected with other homeless people whose remarkable stories inspired her to become an activist for the homeless community.

Ellen Kort

Ellen Kort was Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate, serving from 2000-2004. She is the author of 11 books and 8 collections of poetry. Ellen's work has been featured in a variety of anthologies and incorporated architecturally in downtown Milwaukee's Midwest Express Center, the Green Bay Botanical Gardens and the Fox River Mall.

Morganne MacDonald

Morganne MacDonald (who writes under the name Leigh Morgan) is known for her romances that feature strong, independent women who are at turning points in their lives. In addition to themes of love and family, the martial arts play an important role in MacDonald's Dojo Chronicles books: Sparring Partners (2010) and Fighting Fate (soon-to-be released).

Stacey Joy Netzel

Wisconsin native Stacey Joy Netzel combines her love of writing with her love of romances and happy endings to create her stories. Second chances and life in a small town are features of her books in the Welcome to Redemption series. Netzel lives in Wisconsin with her husband and children.

Jane O'Connor

Author Biography

Jane O'Connor is best known for her very popular children's books featuring the character Nancy. The first book in this series, Fancy Nancy (2005), introduces Nancy, a cheerful little girl who adores everything glamorous, sparkly, and just plain "fancy." Since the publication of that title, numerous picture books and books for young readers have followed in the series, including Bonjour, Butterfly (2008), Heart to Heart (2009), and Ooh La La! It's a Beauty Day (2010). Several of the Fancy Nancy books have reached number 1 on the New York Times bestsellers list.

O'Connor has also written other fiction and nonfiction for children, such as Lulu and the Witch Baby (1986), Nina, Nina, Ballerina (1993), The Emperor's Silent Army: Terra Cotta Warriors of Ancient China (2000), and If the Walls Could Talk: Family Life at the White House (2004). Her Dangerous Admissions (2007) was called a "lively romantic suspense debut" by Publishers Weekly and is her first mystery title.

O'Connor was born in New York City and graduated from Smith College. In addition to writing, she has worked as an editor in the publishing industry for many years.

Additional Information

Steven Polansky

Steven Polansky's novel, The Bradbury Report, is praised for its "language of stunning beauty" that "presents a provocative vision of the American future and creates a haunting story of love and friendship and self-discovery." Set in 2071, The Bradbury Report is about a man who meets his clone, becomes involved in government resistance, and develops a deeper understanding of humanity.

Kris Radish

Kris Radish is known to many because of her nationally syndicated columns, but she has also won a strong following of readers addicted to her funny, heartfelt, and empowering feminist fiction. With her beloved novels like Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral, and The Sunday List of Dreams, Radish is now a major personality in both the journalistic and the literary worlds.

Jess Riley

Jess Riley's highly praised debut novel Driving Sideways has been called "hugely entertaining" and "very touching" as well as a "funny, picaresque vision of America." This entertaining book tells the story of Leigh Fielding, a 28 year-old kidney transplant recipient, who sets off on a road trip in order to find herself, her kidney donor's family, and the mother who abandoned her years ago. Driving Sideways was a finalist in the 2005 James Jones First Novel Fellowship.

Donna Marie Rogers

Donna Marie Rogers loves romances and stories with happy endings. With fellow author Stacey Joy Netzel, she has created the Welcome to Redemption series, books that are set in small-town Wisconsin. Rogers lives in Wisconsin with her husband and children. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Wisconsin Romance Writers of America.

Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss had the good fortune to be born in Wisconsin where long winters and lack of cable television brought about a love of reading and writing. His mother read to him as a child, and his father taught him to build things. If you are looking for the roots of his storytelling, look there. In 2002 a piece of Pat's novel, cleverly disguised as a short story, won first place in the Writers of the Future contest. Pat's story, The Road to Levinshir, was published in Volume 18 of their anthology.

Rachel Simon

Rachel Simon is an award-winning author and nationally known public speaker. She is best known for her critically acclaimed, bestselling memoir Riding The Bus With My Sister, which was adapted for a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie of the same name. Her recent book, The Story of Beautiful Girl, is an unforgettably moving love story about the improbable odds faced by a couple with disabilities and a lost child.

Scott Stoll

Scott Stoll asked himself a question: “If I could do anything, what would I do?” His answer resulted in a quest for happiness and the meaning of life around the world on a bicycle (25,742 miles, 4 years, 50 countries, 6 continents & 4 moments of enlightenment). His adventures are chronicled in his independent, best-selling book Falling Uphill, a tale described as having moments from pure survival to pure enlightenment.

Bill Strickland

As president-CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Bill Strickland builds partnerships to help the disadvantaged build a better future. He's also the author of Make the Impossible Possible, which includes his story of how a kid from Pittsburgh's ghetto would go on to lecture at Harvard and serve on the National Endowment of the Arts board.

Fox Cities Reads

Sponsors

Venues

Booksellers

Search

Get FCBF News

Thank You

Tag Cloud