Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

B. J. Hollars

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Writing Residency Open Again this Summer

Writer B.J. Hollars, who is a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire professor and director of Cirenaica, a writing residency in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, announces that the residency will be open this summer.

“Nestled on 43 acres of hills, farmland, and forest near the quaint village of Fall Creek, Wisconsin, our residencies promise participants an intensive yet rejuvenating experience amidst an inspiring natural backdrop, “Hollars says. “Complete with guest writers and editors, an on-site chef, and even a waterfall right up the road, we strive to provide the perfect summer writing experience for writers of all levels and genres.

“This summer we will be hosting five, 3-day residencies:

·         Stranger than Fiction: On Writing Narrative Nonfiction and Memoir featuring writer-in-residence Allyson Goldin Loomis (June 8-11)

·         Theory and Practice of Fiction featuring writer-in-residence Nickolas Butler (June 22-25)

·         The Art of Memoir: Keep it Honest, But Keep it Interesting with writer-in-residence June Melby (July 6-9)

·         Poetry in the Shadow of Walden featuring writer-in-residence and former Wisconsin poet laureate Max Garland (July 13-16)

·         Writing Young Adult Fiction: The Magic Formula featuring writer-in-residence Marsha Qualey (July 21-24)

Please click here for an overview of the program, here for details on this summer’s offerings, and here for testimonials.”

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Wisconsin Writers Feted at CWW 50th Birthday Awards Banquet.

What a great and wonderful time at yesterday’s Council for Wisconsin Writers’ Awards Banquet at which the Council celebrated its 50th birthday! Our keynote speaker and Major Achievement Award recipient was the inimitable John Nichols, whose extensive credits include: author of a dozen books, The Nation magazine Washington correspondent, a pioneering blogger, and associate editor of Madison’s The Capital Times. 

Other Wisconsin writers, whose works won first place and honorable mention in the Council’s eight annual contests, joined Nichols in the day’s festivities.

Seated from left: Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award 1st place Jeanie Tomasko, Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction honorable mention Margaret Benbow, CWW Essay Award for Young Writers 1st place Hannah Kinzer, John Nichols,Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award honorable mention Rebecca Williams Spindler and Madelyn Spindler

Standing from left: Kay W. Levin Short Nonfiction Award 1st place Craig Reinbold of Milwaukee, Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award 1st place A.M. Bostwick of Tomahawk,  CWW Essay Award for Young Writers honorable mention Satvir Kalsi of Brookfield, Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award honorable mention Rita Mae Reese of Madison, Kay W. Levin Short Nonfiction Award honorable mention Jill Sisson Quinn of Scandinavia, Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction 1st place Matt Cashion of La Crosse, Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award honorable mention Nicholas Hoffman and Jesse Gant of Appleton, Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award honorable mention Raymond D. Schrab of Hartford,  Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award 1st place B.J. Hollars of Eau Claire, Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award 1st place Amaud Jamaul Johnson of Madison

Unable to attend were Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award 1st place Jesse Lee Kercheval of Madison and Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award honorable mention Seth Abramson of Madison.

More about CWW and these writers is at www.wiswriters.org.

Congratulations to these fine and talented Wisconsin writers and a huge thank you to all who support and make possible the Council’s ongoing ability to recognize and award the many wonderful writers in Wisconsin.

 

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CWW 2013 Contest Winners Announced, 50th Anniversary Awards Banquet Set

Press Release: Wisconsin Writers Awards Announced
From: Council for Wisconsin Writers www.wiswriters.org
For release: April 2, 2014
Contact: Robin Chapman rschapma@wisc.edu

Winners of 2013 Wisconsin Writers Awards Announced by CWW

The Council for Wisconsin Writers is pleased to announce the 2013 winners and honorable mentions for the Wisconsin Writers’ Awards. CWW’s highest award, the $1,000 Major Achievement Award for work of outstanding merit, goes to John Nichols, who will give the keynote talk at CWW’s Awards Banquet at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10, at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee.  The public is invited to celebrate our state’s fine writers and the Council’s 50th anniversary.

Nichols, who lives in Madison, is Washington correspondent for The Nation, associate editor of The Capital Times, and author or co-author of ten books on media, politics and American history. A frequent guest on radio and television programs in the United States and abroad, Nichols is the co-founder of the nation’s media reform network, Free Press.

Winners of the Wisconsin Writers’ Awards for work published in 2013 will each receive $500 and a weeklong writing residency at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point. Honorable mentions will receive $50. Out-of-state judges made the decisions for each award.

Matt Cashion of La Crosse is winner of the Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction with “Awful Pretty,” published in Moon City Review.  Margaret Benbow of Madison is recipient of an honorable mention for “Simeon Prophet and Johanna,” published in The Antioch Review.

Amaud Jamaul Johnson of Madison is winner of the Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award for Darktown Follies (Tupelo Press). Honorable mention goes to Seth Abramson of Madison for Thievery  (University of Akron Press).

Craig Reinbold of Milwaukee is winner of the Kay W. Levin Short Nonfiction Award for his article “The Girl in the Photograph” (Ruminate Magazine). Jill Sisson Quinn of Scandinavia receives honorable mention for her essay “The Myth of Home” (Ecotone Journal).

The Great Cat Nap (Cornerstone Press) by A.M. Bostwick of Tomahawk is winner of the Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award; Rebecca Williams Spindler and Madelyn Spindler, Madison mother-daughter writers, receive honorable mention for Moving Out and Moving On (Little Creek Books). 

B. J. Hollars of Eau Claire is winner of the Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award for Opening the Doors: The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa  (Univ. of Alabama Press). Nicholas Hoffman and Jesse Gant, Appleton, receive an honorable mention for Wheel Fever: How Wisconsin Became a Great Bicycling State (Wisconsin Historical Society Press.)

The Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award goes to Jesse Lee Kercheval of Madison for My Life as a Silent Movie (Indiana University Press, 2013). Honorable mention goes to Raymond D. Schrab of Hartford for Dutch Schultz and the Gold of Quilalí (CreateSpace).

The Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award for five individual poems goes to Jeanie Tomasko of Middleton; Rita Mae Reese of Madison receives an honorable mention.

The CWW Essay Award for Young Writers of $250 this year will go to Hannah Kinzer of Eisenhower Middle and High School, New Berlin, plus an additional $250 to her high school library, for her essay “Thirty Thousand Feet in the Air.” Honorable mention goes to Satvir Kalsi of Brookfield Academy for “Out of the Cold, a Friend.” Members of the CWW Board judged.

More information about winners, judges, banquet registration, and the Council can be found at its website, www.wiswriters.org . Banquet tickets must be reserved by Monday, May 5.