Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Jim Draeger

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Noted WI Authors to Speak at Old World Wisconsin

Some upcoming Wisconsin author events at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Old World Wisconsin living history site, as announced by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press:
Bottoms Up, Sept. 7.
Jim Draeger, coauthor of Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconin’s Historic Bars & Breweries, will be signing copies of the book from 3 to 5 p.m. as part of the site’s Autumn on the Farm celebration. Note: Draeger will also present a book talk after hours during a special Old World Toast to Wisconsin Beer & Brewing History event for Wisconsin Historical Society members.
Wheel Fever, Sept. 15
A new experience rides into Old World Wisconsin this fall – old-time bicycles – and Jesse Gant and Nicholas Hoffman, coauthors of Wheel Fever: How Wisconsin Became a Great Bicycling Statewill help kick start the bicycling experience and discuss the early days of biking beginning at noon. A book signing will follow from 1 to 2 p.m.
Jerry  Apps, Sept. 21
Celebrated rural historian Jerry Apps will share farm memories from his newest Wisconsin Historical Society Press book The Quiet Season: Remembering Country Winters begnning at noon as part of Old World Wisconsin’s “Autumn on the Farm” festivities. Apps will sign copies of “The Quiet Season,” Limping through Life: A Farm Boy’s Polio Memoir, and other titles from 1 to 2 p.m.
Read about some of these authors’ CWW awards at www.wiswriters.org

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'Bottoms Up' Tour News from WHS Press

Celebrate summer with the authors of Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconsin’s Historic Bars & Breweries as they discuss the development of the state’s bar cultures – and the taverns that served it up – across Wisconsin. Join the toast at one of many locations, from a Burned Down happy hour on Madeline Island to an Appleton Pub Crawl and UW library discussion.

 

This Thursday, July 11, the authors will discuss historic bars and breweries at the History Museum at The Castle in Appleton. The 6:30 p.m. Bottoms Up book talk and signing is followed by a Bottoms Up Pub Crawl, on foot, to unique and historic Appleton bars and a former brewery. Pub crawl admission is $5.

 

The book’s photographer Mark Fay joins coauthor Jim Draeger on Madeline Island Friday, July 12, for a special 4 p.m. Bottoms Up book talk and signing at theWisconsin Historical Society’s Historical Museum followed by a “Burned Down Bottoms Up Toast” to Wisconsin bar culture and history at Tom’s Burned Down Cafe, a unique outdoor tavern featured in the book and located near the museum.

 

Coauthor Jim Draeger returns to the ‘mainland’ to present a Bottoms Up book talk and signing Tuesday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Oscar Grady Public Library in Saukville.

 

UW Milwaukee Libraries welcome coauthor Mark Speltz Aug. 8 for a discussion of bar history and culture as part of the university’s “Revisiting Our Past Local History Lecture Series.” The book talk begins at 7 p.m. in the Golda Meier Library on campus. A book signing follows.

 

A special screening of the Wisconsin Public Television documentary “Bottoms Up: Wisconsin’s Historic Bars & Breweries” is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, at the Demmer Memorial Library in Three Lakes, Wis. Coauthor Jim Draeger will join the screening event to talk about the book that inspired the documentary and host a book signing following the screening. In addition, Draeger will be giving a special book talk at the Three Lakes historical society annual meeting the evening before.

 

Bottoms Up wraps up its “Toast to Summer Tour” with a kick-off to “Autumn on the Farm” book signing from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Old World Wisconsin site in Eagle with coauthor Jim Draeger. That evening, Draeger will be discussing the book at a special members-only Wisconsin Historical Foundation event. Members should watch their Society correspondence for details; or, join the Wisconsin Historical Foundation today and learn more!

 

Bottoms Up ‘Toast to Summer’ Tour Schedule

 

Appleton
Bottoms Up Book Talk & Pub ‘Crawl’
History at The Castle Museum
 Thursday, July 11
5 p.m.
Madeline Island
Bottoms Up Book Talk & Burned Down Toast
Friday, July 12
4 p.m.
Madeline Island Historical Museum – Book Talk
5-6 p.m.
Tom’s Burned Down Cafe – Happy Hour Toast
Saukville
Bottoms Up Book Talk
Tuesday, July 23
6:30 p.m.
Oscar Grady Public Library
Milwaukee
Bottoms Up Book Talk
Thursday, Aug. 8
7 p.m.
UW Milwaukee Golda Meier Library
Three Lakes
Bottoms Up Documentary Screening & Book Signing
Wednesday, Aug. 14
6:30 p.m.
Demmer Memorial Library
Eagle
Bottoms Up Book Signing
3-5 p.m.
Old World Wisconsin Gift Shop

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press, publishing the best of

Wisconsin history and culture, since 1855

# # #

Books will be available for sale at these events.

The authors will be on hand to sign books.

About the book: Bottoms Up, from Wisconsin Historical Society Press, highlights the history of Wisconsin’s beer making tradition and bar culture. Beginning with inns and saloons, “Bottoms Up” explores the rise of taverns and breweries, the effects of temperance and Prohibition, and attitudes about gender, ethnicity and morality. The book traces the development of the megabreweries, dominance of the giants, and the emergence of microbreweries. Seventy taverns and breweries are featured.

About the authors: Jim Draeger is an architectural historian and deputy state historic preservation officer at the Wisconsin Historical Society, with more than 25 years of historic preservation experience. From roadside architecture to Northwoods resorts, Draeger celebrates the importance of ordinary buildings to our daily lives through his research, writing, and lectures. Mark Speltz is a senior historian at American Girl with a master’s degree in public history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He previously worked as an independent researcher on exhibits for museums, including the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, and has written several articles for the Wisconsin Magazine of History.
To schedule an author interview or for more information, please contact Kristin Gilpatrick at the Wisconsin Historical Society Press:kristin.gilpatrick@wisconsinhistory.org or 608-264-6465.

 

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CWW Announces 2012 Wisconsin Writers Award Winners

Press Release: CWW 2013 Wisconsin Writers Awards
From: Council for Wisconsin Writers www.wiswriters.org
For release: March 30, 2013
Contact: Robin Chapman rschapma@wisc.edu

CWW Announces 2012 Wisconsin Writers Award Winners, Hamilton Receives Highest Honor

The Council for Wisconsin Writers is proud to present its highest honor, the Major Achievement Award for work of outstanding merit, to novelist Jane Hamilton, who will keynote CWW’s awards banquet, 11 a.m. Saturday, May 11, at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. The award is being presented in memory of CWW friend and colleague Thomas J. Bontly, who passed away last year.

Hamilton, who lives on an orchard in Rochester, Wisconsin, is author of six novels, including the award-winning The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, both Oprah Book Club selections. Her most recent novel, published by Grand Central, is Laura Rider’s Masterpiece. Her sharply drawn characters and poignant story lines depict real people struggling with the complexities and tragedies of ordinary life. Her award will include $1000 and a week-long writer’s residency at Shake Rag Alley or Maplewood Lodge in Mineral Point.

At the banquet, the CWW will also award prizes in eight literary categories for this year’s Wisconsin Writers Awards. Sixteen distinguished writers will be honored for work published in 2012 and chosen by out-of-state judges. The first prize winner in each category will receive $500 and a week-long residency in Mineral Point. Honorable mentions will receive $50.

Shauna Singh Baldwin of Milwaukee, author of The Selector of Souls, published by Random House of Canada, will receive the Anne Powers Fiction Book Award for her novel interweaving the lives of her two main characters over the course of a turbulent decade for women in 1990s India.  Honorable mention goes to Paul Salsini of Milwaukee for The Temptation of Father Lorenzo (iUniverse), featuring characters from his prize-winning Tuscan trilogy.

The Tofte/Wright Children’s Award winner is Kathleen Ernst for Meet Caroline (American Girl Co.), a story of historical fiction about a 9-year old American girl living on the shore of Lake Ontario in 1812. Honorable mention goes to Isabella Fontaine, who lives on a farm in rural Wisconsin, and Ken Brosky, who lives in Madison, for volume 1 of The Grimm Chronicles (Brew City Press), stories about fairytale characters released into real life.

The Posner Poetry Book Award winner is Sarah Busse, co-poet laureate of Madison and co-editor of Verse Wisconsin, for her book Somewhere Piano, published by Mayapple Press.  James Pollock of Madison receives honorable mention for Sailing to Babylon, published by Able Muse Press.

The Kenneth Kingery/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award will go to David McGlynn of Appleton for his memoir A Door in the Ocean (Counterpoint Press), which traces his journey from competitive swimming and family tragedy through radical evangelicalism and adult life. Jim Draeger of Monona and Mark Speltz of Madison will share honorable mention for their book Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconsin’s Historic Bars & Breweries (Wisconsin Historical Society Press).

The Larry and Eleanor Sternig Award for Short Fiction will be given to Jeff Esterholm of Superior for “Mrs. Weir,” published by Midwestern Gothic in its nostalgia-themed issue. Karen Loeb’s “Housewarming,” appearing in Thema, receives an honorable mention. Loeb lives in Eau Claire.

George Johnson of Madison is winner of the Kay Levin Award for Short Nonfiction for his piece, “The American Pearl Rush: Its Wisconsin Beginnings,” about freshwater pearls discovered in 1889 in the Sugar River at Albany. His account was published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History. Honorable mention goes to Tom Matthews of Wauwatosa for his piece, “Almost Famous,” published in Milwaukee Magazine, a profile of a long-time musician from Milwaukee, Paul Cebar.

The Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award for five poems goes to Kara Candito of Madison, where she co-curates the Monsters of Poetry series; honorable mention to Amie Whittemore of Racine.

The Ellis/Henderson Outdoor Writing Award goes to Tom Davis of Green Bay for his essay “Ghosts of the Little Sioux,” which appeared in Pointing Dog Journal. Steven Dewald of La Crosse will receive honorable mention for his book Under a Poacher’s Moon: Stories of a Wisconsin Game Warden (self-published with Create Space).

The CWW Essay Award for Young Writers of $250 goes to Tatiana Lyons of Madison West High School for her essay “The Greatest Wizard in South Dakota.”  Honorable mention and $50 goes to Elijah Carrel, also of Madison West, for his essay “Thank You, Christopher Columbus.”

The public is cordially invited to hear Jane Hamilton and these other fine Wisconsin writers at the Council’s May 11 awards banquet. Reservation forms can be found at the website, www.wiswriters.org. More information about the winners and contest judges can be found at the Awards link on the website.