It’s almost that time! October 9 is the first day of the tenth annual Fox Cities Book Festival. There will be 50 different authors holding events at thirteen local venues in the Fox Cities. These authors have been all around the world. Yet many have at least one thing in common: a connection to Wisconsin.

Jerry Apps was born and raised on a Wisconsin farm. Jerry, now a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has written seven novels and over 35 nonfiction books. He not only writes, but has also created four hour-long documentaries for Public TV. His awards and accomplishments speak for his success. Jerry has won awards for his writing from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Library Association, American Library Association, Foreword Magazine, Midwest Independent Publishers Association, Robert E. Gard Foundation, Wisconsin Council for Writers, Upper Midwest Booksellers, and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, among others. Jerry will be at the Fox Cities Book Festival on October 14 at 11am in the Neenah Public Library to talk about his book Never Curse the Rain.

Nickolas Butler was born in Allentown, PA but grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Nickolas has humble beginnings, working as a Burger King maintenance man, a tutor, a telemarketer, a hot-dog vendor, an innkeeper (twice), an office manager, a coffee roaster, a liquor store clerk, and an author escort. Now, he is the author of the internationally best-selling novels Shotgun Lovesongs and Hearts of Men. Nickolas has enjoyed success all around the world. He is the winner of France’s prestigious PAGE Prix America, the 2014 Great Lakes Great Reads Award, the 2014 Midwest Independent Booksellers Award, the 2015 Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award, the 2015 UW-Whitewater Chancellor’s Regional Literary Award, and has been long-listed for the 2014 Flaherty Dunnan Award for First Novel and short-listed for France’s FNAC Prix. Nickolas now lives with his wife and two children near a buffalo farm in rural Wisconsin. Nickolas Butler will be at the Elisha D. Smith Public Library at 1:30 pm and the Kaukauna Public Library at 6:30 pm.

Ron Faiola is an author, photographer, and filmmaker who grew up in Wisconsin. Ron produced and directed the documentary “Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience” (2011) which appeared on PBS stations nationwide and earned mentions in such newspapers as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His first book, Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience, was published in 2013 and Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round, in 2016. If you love a good fish fry (chances are high if you are from Wisconsin), you might enjoy Faiola’s soon to be released documentary titled “We’re Here for a Fish Fry!” Come hear Ron Faiola as he presents the origins and history of supper clubs and how they got their start in Wisconsin, along with images of the food and decor of clubs around the state. He will be at the Fox Cities Book Festival on October 9 in the Kaukauna Public Library at 2 pm and the Elisha D. Smith Public Library at 6:30 pm.

And the list of Wisconsin authors coming to the festival is long! Check out these authors with a connection to our home state and/or the Fox Cities.

Abayomi Animashaun is a Nigerian émigré poet who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

B.J. Hollars teaches writing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Bruce Chudacoff was born and raised in Appleton and practiced law here for over 45 years.

Callie Bates graduated from Lawrence University.

Chad Lewis is a Wisconsin resident and an expert on our state’s haunted locations, strange creatures, UFO cases, and strange stories.

Corina Rogers lives in the only Waunakee in the world with her husband, three teenagers and their British Lab, named Charley.

Darcy Miller lives in Prairie du Sac where she wrote her first middle grade novel, Roll.

Doug Haynes is an essayist and poet who teaches writing at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Duachaka Her is a Hmong-American cartoonist who graduated from UW-Stour and lives in central Wisconsin.

Gavin Schmitt is a life-long Fox Cities native and the go-to expert on organized crime in Wisconsin.

JD. Griesbach lives in Menasha where he was born and raised.

Jack Mitchell was Director of Wisconsin Public Radio and Professor of Journalism at UW-Madison.

James Campbell is a native of Wisconsin even though he shares stories from Alaska.

Jean Long Manteufel has called Appleton home all of her life and writes a column for the Post-Crescent.

Jerald Podair is professor of history at Lawrence University.

Jim Feldman is Director of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

John Galligan lives and teaches in Madison.

Karla Huston is the current Wisconsin Poet Laureate and lives in Appleton.

Laura Kuehl moved to Appleton from the Madison area several years ago.

Laura Vosika is an alumnus of Lawrence University and plays trombone and harp.

Lesley Kagen lives in a hundred-year-old farmhouse in a small town in Wisconsin.

Liz Czukas lives outsie Milwaukee with her husband, son and world’s loudest cat.

Louis V. Clark III born and raised on the Oneida Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin and lives now with his wife in Omro.

Melanie Radziciki McManus is a Wisconsin author whose mother loves Brett Favre.

Margaret Murphy brings readers of her mystery to the chain of lake regions in Waupaca.

Melissa Range teaches creative writing and American literature at Lawrence University.

Patricia Skalka is a native Chicogan but her Dave Cubiak mysters are all set in Door County.

Peter and Connie Roop are from Wisconsin even though they have written over 100 children’s books set in faraway places and historical periods.

Robert Birmingham served as the state archeologist of Wisconsin for many year.

Roberta Capasso has written about her great-grandmother were taken from Oneida, Wisconsin, and sent to the Carlisle Industrial Boarding School 1891-1892.

Sagashus T. Levingston is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison completing her dissertation titled Infamous Mothers: Bad Moms Doing Extraordinary Things.

Sharon Lamers was born in Appleton and now lives in New London with three cats.

Steve Krueger was born, raised, and lives in Menasha and brings to life the obscure and forgotten facts of local history.

Susan Amond Todd was born and raised in Neenah though she lives in North Carolina.

Tanya Solomon graduated from Appleton West though she lives in Northbrook, Illinois now.

Tricia Clasen is a professor of communication at UW-Rock County.

Victoria Houston, born and raised in Rhinelander, writes mysteries set in the northwoods of Wisconsin.

There are many more authors that will be at the Fox Cities Book Festival. You can find the list of authors and their events on our website.