Northwoods Book Festival kicks off on June 14
The 2022 Northwoods Book Festival will kick off on June 14 at 6:00 PM with author Pao Lor speaking at the Frank B. Koller Memorial Library in Manitowish Waters. This is the first event in a series sponsored by seven of northern Wisconsin’s libraries this summer. The 2022 theme for the Northwoods Book Festival is, “Open Books, Open Minds.”
The featured event in the 2022 series will be a visit from James Edward Mills, author of The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors, named by Outside Magazine as one of the ten “Outdoor Books that Shaped the Last Decade.” The nation’s wild places—from national and state parks to national forests, preserves, and wilderness areas—belong to all Americans. But not all of us use these resources equally. Minority populations are much less likely to seek recreation, adventure, and solace in our wilderness spaces. It’s a difference that African American author Mills addresses in his book, which is part adventure story, part history, and part argument for the importance of inspiring future generations to value nature.
Mills will appear at the Boulder Junction Community Center on Thursday, June 30 at 6:00 PM.
Other events in the Northwoods Book Festival series include:
- Pao Lor, author of Modern Jungles: a Hmong refugee’s childhood story of survival, at the Koller Library in Manitowish Waters on June 14 at 6:00 PM
- Lac du Flambeau poets Mildred “Tinker” Schuman (Migizikwe) and Elizabeth “Beth” Tornes at the Boulder Junction Public Library on Thursday, June 16 at 6:00 PM
- Author and Ojibwe historian Leon Ozaawaagosh Valliere at the Waaswaaganing Indian Bowl in Lac du Flambeau on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at 6:00 PM, sponsored by the Ben Guthrie Lac du Flambeau Library
- Maria Alvarez Stroud, author of Brave Crossing: a journey in-between, at the Minocqua Public Library on Tuesday, July 12 at 6:00 PM
- Duachaka Her, cartoonist, illustrator, and author of the mini-comic “Tradition,” at the Winchester Public Library on Tuesday, July 26 at 4:00 PM
- Poetry reading with Tinker Schuman (Migizikwe) and John Bates at the Mercer Public Library on Thursday, July 28 at 6:00 PM
- Quan (Amy) Barry, author of We Ride Upon Sticks, at the Presque Isle Community Library on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 6:00 PM
- Melissa Faliveno, author of Tomboyland, at the Boulder Junction Public Library on Thursday, August 11 at 6:00 PM
The Northwoods Book Festival is a joint project of seven libraries in northern Wisconsin: Boulder Junction Public Library, Ben Guthrie Lac du Flambeau Public Library, Frank B. Koller Memorial Library in Manitowish Waters, Mercer Public Library, Minocqua Public Library, Presque Isle Community Library, and Winchester Public Library. Events are scheduled at each participating library, and patrons are encouraged to attend events at all of our participating locations.
The 2022 program series follows the theme of “Open Books, Open Minds,” and includes authors from diverse backgrounds writing memoirs and stories inspired by their own experiences and written from their own perspectives. All programs are free and open to the public. For more information about the Northwoods Book Festival and a complete list of events, visit www.northwoodsbookfest.org.
The 2022 Northwoods Book Festival program series is made possible by a grant from the American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries.
American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.