I Believe in Yesterday: History and Place Illuminate Fiction

Dan Linssen, Edward S. Louis (Ed Risden), and Scott Winkler have all found inspiration for their Wisconsin-based novels in the worlds of our parents and grandparents: Linssen in the transition from innocence to experience in the late 1950s, Louis in the dire circumstances of the Great Depression, and Winkler in the impact the late 1960s on a family living in rural Northeast Wisconsin.  In their panel, these writers will discuss the origins and inspiration of their novels–how they conduct background research and incorporate it in their work–as well as explore how a firm foundation in a particular place and time nurtures and enables works of fiction to explore timeless, universal human themes. Each writer may share short excerpts highlighting elements of their works, and they will take questions from the audience.