Blog

On word vitamins, substance abuse, and her complicated love letter to small-town Wisconsin By Laura Anne Bird The moment has finally arrived for Maggie Ginsberg. Her debut novel, Still True, which took “three months, five years, or a lifetime to write,” is being launched into the world. Still True is the unsettling, slow burning, deeply pleasurable story of Lib Hanson, a fiercely independent woman with a silver braid down her back. On a hot summer night, a man shows up at her farmhouse in Anthem, Wisconsin, and she understands instantly he’s the son she left four decades ago—“a reunion-in-the-making so [...]

Q&A with debut author illustrator Joseph Taylor + three book recommendations By Laura Bird Madison, Wisconsin-based working artist Joseph Taylor is many things: pianist, vocalist, yogi, gardener, dad. Now, he’s an author illustrator, too. Taylor’s debut children’s picture book, The Walking Tree, celebrates a centuries-old woodworking technique called Intarsia—but with his own vibrant spin. “I make wooden wall art by cutting recycled skateboards and other found woods, and I arrange the pieces on hand-painted backgrounds,” Taylor says. “My final pieces might feature a whimsical submarine floating in the sky or an ancient tree balancing in the wind. I play with [...]

An Interview and Book Recommendations with Debut Author Laura Bird By Sue Millinocket It's a really exciting day when one of our own publishes her first book. We're so excited to talk with Laura Bird about her delightful middle grade novel, Crossing the Pressure Line. Her story is set in the North Woods of Wisconsin, a place I grew up visiting. Spending a summer with her young heroine was like visiting parts of my own childhood, but with someone much more courageous and determined! I know Laura well. We live in the same city in addition to sharing a love [...]