Read Wisconsin

Read Wisconsin is a new section of Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine devoted entirely to Wisconsin writers and poets. A recurring feature in both our print and online editions, Read Wisconsin offers readers a regular survey of the state of Wisconsin literature, highlighting the local and national writers who shape our literary landscape.

In Read Wisconsin you will find not only award-winning fiction and poetry from the annual Wisconsin People & Ideas/Wisconsin Book Festival contests, but also hand-selected works from some of the finest writers across the state. We'll also highlight local bookstores, interview interesting authors, and get a "High Five"—a list of five all-time greatest books—from notable Wisconsinites. We'll keep you up to date on the latest book releases and authors who have received literary awards, too.

Why do all of this? Well, much like the recent efforts of eco-consciencious foodies to get friends and family to purchase locally produced edibles, we want our readers to seek out and consume locally produced prose and poetry. We want our readers to become literary locavores, selecting only the choice Wisconsin poets and putting much-needed resources back in the pockets of those writers who feed our minds and souls.

Whether you read the title of this section as an exhortation to expand your literary diet to include more Wisconsin authors or a statewide clarion call to simply pick up a book, Read Wisconsin has a new, permanent home in the pages of Wisconsin People & Ideas and here on our website.

We hope you will look to Read Wisconsin in anticipation of some satisfying reading. If we do it right, you'll hunger for more.

—Jason A. Smith, editor