Fox Cities Book Festival: Connecting writers and readers across our diverse communities.

Since publishing his debut novel, Retired Hall of Fame Fire Captain, Award-Winning Author, and Inspirational Speaker Gregory Renz has been captivating audiences with gripping stories taken from his twenty-eight-year career as a Milwaukee Firefighter. His international-award-winning novel BENETH THE FLAMES was inspired by two little girls who lived across from an inner-city firehouse Gregory was stationed at for three years. He was deeply affected by the struggles of these children growing up in the crushing poverty and violence of the inner city (The Core) of the most racially segregated city in the United States. After retiring, he spent ten years writing a novel he hoped would capture the hopelessness so many of these children endure. The journey from retired fire captain to published author proved to be every bit as challenging as crawling into burning buildings. Firefighters never give up and neither can writers who hope to be published. Gregory lives in Lake Mills, Wisconsin with his wife Paula and is currently working on a sequel to BENEATH THE FLAMES.