Faculty, staff authors featured at book festival

Now in its seventh year, the Wisconsin Book Festival has something for everyone during five days of panels, workshops and performances by local and nationally recognized authors. UW–Madison plays a large role in the festival, from hosting campus events to spotlighting books published by the UW Press. Among the many faculty and staff authors taking part:

• Wednesday, Oct. 15

  Greg Downey, associate professor of journalism and library and information sciences, discusses “Closed Captioning: Subtitling, Stenography & the Digital Convergence of Text with Television” at 5:30 p.m. in the SLIS Commons, Helen C. White.

• Thursday, Oct. 16

  Jerry Apps, professor emeritus of continuing and vocational education and author of books including “In a Pickle and Old Farm,” joins other writers in a discussion titled “A Half-century of Change in Rural Wisconsin” at 7 p.m. in the Overture Center’s Promenade Hall, 201 State St. Apps will also present a solo program on Old Farm at noon on Sunday, Oct. 19, in the Promenade Hall.

  Paul Boyer and Charles Cohen, professor emeritus and professor of history, respectively, discuss “Religion and Print Culture,” following their book “Religion and the Culture of Print in America,” at 7 p.m. in the Pres House, 731 State St.

  Josh Healey, former program director of the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, presents his new collection, “Hammertime,” as part of OMAI’s Passing the Mic spoken word series. Healey hosts the program, spotlighting UW-Madison’s First Wave students, along with Eric Mata, social justice education specialist for the Multicultural Student Center. The event takes place at 7 p.m. at the Wisconsin Historical Society, 816 State St.

• Friday, Oct. 17

  Casey Nagy, chief of staff in the Office of the Chancellor, discusses his novel, “Imagined Glories,” in a program titled “Fiction: Stranger Than Politics?” at 5 p.m. in the Madison Central Public Library, 201 W. Mifflin St.

• Saturday, Oct. 18

  Robert Booth Fowler, professor emeritus of political science, discusses his timely new book, “Wisconsin Votes: An Electoral History,” in an interview with Katherine Cramer Walsh, associate professor of political science. The event takes place at 10 a.m. at the Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 N. Carroll St.

  Ron Wallace, professor of English, presents his poetry collection, “For A Limited Time Only.” The program also features Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

• Sunday, Oct. 19

  • Raphael Kadushin, acquisitions editor at UW Press, speaks about his book, “Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing” as part of “Change in Motion: Extraordinary Travel Writing” at noon at A Room of One’s Own, 307 W. Johnson St.

  • Steven Nadler, professor of philosophy and Jewish Studies, discusses “The Best of All Possible Worlds” in a program shared with Yi-Fu Tuan, professor emeritus of geography and author of “Human Goodness.” The talk begins at 2:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Historical Museum.