Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Bridget Birdsall

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CWW Winners To Be Festival Readers

Four winners of the Council for Wisconsin Writers annual contests read on Saturday from their work as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival  in Madison. Following is information from the Festival that includes names of the winners who will be reading, and the time and the place of the event:
2015 CWW Winners Reading - Council of Wisconsin Writers - <span class="date-display-single">10/24/2015 - 12:00pm</span>

                       2015 CWW WINNERS READING                             Council of Wisconsin Writers

                                      Room of One’s Own

                                                      315 W. Gorham St., Madison, WI, 53703

                                                                      10/24/2015 – 12:00pm

Here is the Festival’s announcement:

Each year for the past 50 years, the Council for Wisconsin Writers has been honoring the best work published by writers from Wisconsin. This years winners are being honored with prestigious prizes outside of our state as well, including a Pushcart winner and an Independent Book of the Year Award.  They represent a variety of literary genres including poetry, memoir, and young adult fiction. These talented authors display the vitality and breadth of writing happening in Wisconsin.

The reading will feature: the winner of the Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award, Sean Bishop ; the winner of the Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award, Bridget Birdsall ; the winner of the Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction, Catherine Jagoe; and the winner of the Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award Cathryn Cofell. 

More information about these and the other winners of the 2014 CWW writing awards is at  http://www.wiswriters.org/awards.htm

 

About Presenter Council of Wisconsin Writers

 

The Council for Wisconsin Writers is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of Wisconsin’s great literary heritage and to encouraging excellence among Wisconsin writers. Founded in 1964, the CWW is operated entirely by volunteers.

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CWW Contest Winners to Read at WI Book Fete

“2015 COUNCIL FOR WISCONSIN WRITERS WINNERS READING” That’s the heading of a blurb in this year’s Wisconsin Book Festival announcement. Among this year’s CWW winners were:

 Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award– Chloe Krug Benjamin,

Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award– John Hildebrand,,

Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award– Sean Bishop,

Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award– Bridget Birdsall,

Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction– Margaret Benbow,

Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction– Catherine Jagoe,

Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award– Cathryn Cofell,

Essay Award for Young Writers-  Kade Bryand

Here’s the link to the announcement:  http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/events/2015-council-wisconsin-writers-winners-reading

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Mount Mary U. Schedules Publishing Institute

Ann Angel, professor and English Program Director at Mount Mary University sends a reminder that Mount Mary is partnering with RedOak to present its Publishing Institute.
“We’ve got a great line up of local writers as well as nationally recognized agents and editors,” Angel says. “Our own Bridget Birdsall [winner of CWW’s 2014 Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award] will be speaking about ‘How Self-Publishing Helped me find an Agent and Healed my Soul’ on Friday evening. That event is free and open to the public. Bridget will be back for a breakout session on Saturday. We’ve also got Regina Brooks of Serendipity LIt coming to Milwaukee for this event. She publishes childrens, YA and adult work. There is a small fee for the Saturday events and an additional fee to pitch work one-on-one with an agent or editor. You can find all the information on the following link which you’ll need to copy and paste.
Check out Bridget Birdsall, Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award, CWW and CWW contests at www.wiswriters.org.

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More Exposure For Bridget Birdsall's "Double Exposure"

CWW’s winner of the 2014 Tofte Wright Children’s Literature Award, Bridget Birdsall for her book Double Exposure, has received a “Goldie” from the Golden Crown Literary Society.

      Congratulations to Bridget!

The Goldie Awards were presented this weekend at the 2015 GCLS conference in New Orleans. Bridget is one of three authors to win a Goldie in the Young Adult category.

Learn more about the Council for Wisconsin Writers and its contests at www.wiswriters.org.

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Mount Mary Publishing Institute Registration Open

Mount Mary University English Program Director and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators member Ann Angel announces that registration is open for the Sept. 25-26 Mount Mary Publishing Institute. 
“We have Regina Brooks, owner and agent with Serendipity Lit, one of the few minority owned and operated agencies, coming to speak,” Ann says. “Madison’s Bridget Birdsall will be speaking on Friday evening (free and open to the public) on how self-publishing helped her find her agent and her heart. There is a fee for Saturday’s events which include workshops on writing and publishing short stories, writing for the radio with WPR’s Mitch Teich, a keynote by breakout novelist Dean Bakopoulos, agent panels on writing solid queries and pitching to agents and editors. For an additional fee, writers can pitch verbally to agents in the afternoon. We’re keeping fees as low as possible and hope to make this an annual event.  Here’s the link in case you’re interested in learning more or wish to download the registration – http://mtmary.edu/news-events/events/publishing-institute.html“

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Children's Writers' Good June News

Here’s what’s been happening on the children’s book publishing front during the past month:

The hard-cover edition of Ann Bausum‘s Stonewall, which was released in May, has earned starred reviews and is now sharing the spotlight with the audio book production from Listening Library. Ann reports that her fellow author Tim Federle, who narrated the audio book, has earned an Earphones Award for his performance from AudioFile magazine. The reviewer notes: “…Bausum’s account of the gay rights movement…is told with heartbreaking candor, and Tim Federle’s narration wrings all the emotion from this gripping history. With vocal intensity that is by turns fearful, angry, or touching….”

Ann and her fellow Wisconsin writer, Bridget Birdsall, winner of CWW’s 2014 Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award for her YA novel Double Exposure, will be at  Madison’s west side Barnes and Noble on June 11 to read, talk, and sign their books. The public is invited to attend: Thursday, June 11 at 7 p.m., B&N in West Towne Mall, 7433 Mineral Point Road. “Our event coincides, quite happily, with GLBT Book Month (the timing of which can be traced back to the events I write about in Stonewall),” Ann says. 

Becky Wojahn‘s Malcolm at Midnight won the Kansas William Allen White Children’s Book Award. She plans to be in Kansas in October for the award presentation. Malcolm is one of the Wisconsin Golden Archer nominees for the next school year.

Sheila Cohen has a middle school biography of Wisconsinite Sterling North published by the Wisconsin Historical Society coming out this coming October. Sterling North  wrote many books and was literary critique at the Chicago Daily News for many years, but his claim to fame for kids is that his book RASCAL  was made into a Disney movie in the 1960’s.

Pat Schmatz got a star from Kirkus for Lizard Radio (coming out this fall).  Among other things, it says:   Sophisticated, character-driven science fiction, as notable for its genderqueer protagonist as for its intricate, suspenseful plot.

“Nobody has ever accused me of an intricate plot – or any other kind of plot – before so I guess using The Plot Whisperer and making all those $#@#$@ charts and diagrams paid off.” Pat says. “And it’s a surprise to me to learn that it’s science fiction, but I’ll take it!
Janet Halfmann‘s Little Skink’s Tail is on the Just Read Florida: 2015 Summer Recommended Reading List for the seventh year in a row.

JoAnn Macken‘s  Baby Says “Moo!” is out as a padded board book.

Lisa Moser‘s Squirrel’s Fun Day has been selected for the summer reading lists by the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library.