Spring Conference Photos Are Up!

Contest Opportunity!

Wisconsin People & Ideas Short Story and Poetry Contest

Deadline: December 15, 2009

Winners of the Wisconsin People & Ideas/Wisconsin Book Festival 2010 short story contest will receive prizes of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), and $100 (third place). Their stories will be published serially, beginning with the first-prize story, online at www.wisconsinacademy.org and in the summer 2010 issue of Wisconsin People & Ideas.

The first-place story will be reviewed by a noted literary agent, and the author will receive a one-week stay at Edenfred, a creative arts residency in Madison owned by the Terry Family Foundation. This year, an esteemed panel will judge short story submissions. The lead judge is Dwight Allen, essayist, novelist, and author of The Typewriter Satyr (UW Press, 2009). The contest is coordinated by Wisconsin People & Ideas editor, Jason A. Smith, and ably judged by Alison Jones Chaim, Nickolas Butler, and Beth L. Lueck. Complete contest rules and submission guidelines at www.wisconsinacademy.org.

2009 Jade Ring Winners Announced

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2009 JADE RING WINNERS!!!!!!!

Nostalgia:

1st Place: Janet Grant-Gustafson

2nd Place: Martha Griffiths


3rd Place: Martha Griffiths

1st Honorable Mention : Patricia Kasten

2nd Honorable Mention: Dorothy M. Loftus



Juvenile Short Story:

1st Place: Darlene A. Buechel

2nd Place: Carol Deprez

3rd Place: Carolyn Marquardt

1st Honorable Mention: Laurie Risch

2nd Honorable Mention: Idella Anacker



Humorous Poetry:


1st Place: Cathy Conger

2nd Place: Dorothy Lund

3rd Place: Ruby Walton

1st Honorable Mention: Kathleen Hayes Phillips

2nd Honorable Mention: Cathy Conger



Serious Poetry:

1st Place: Mary Jo Balistreri

2nd Place: Judy Kolosso

3rd Place: Karla Huston

1st Honorable Mention: Christine L. Abresch

2nd Honorable Mention: Patty Miler



Article:

1st Place: Jeane Knapp

2nd Place: Greg Peck

3rd Place: Elayne Clipper Hanson

1st Honorable Mention: Sally Bair



Adult Short Story:

1st Place: Cheryl A. Hanson

2nd Place: Kathleen Ernst

3rd Place: Cynthia Uhrich

1st Honorable Mention: Barb Jenson

2nd Honorable Mention: Carolyn Ostrander

3rd Honorable Mention: Kimberly Suhr


Essay:

1st Place: Cheryl A. Hanson

2nd Place: Nancy Sweetland

3rd Place: Joanne Nelson

1st Honorable Mention: Barb Jensen

2nd Honorable Mention: Betty Brogaard


Well done all!!!!

WRWA On Wisconsin Public Radio!

NEWSFLASH!!! NEWSFLASH!!! NEWSFLASH!!!

Nate Scholze and Robin Butler will be guests on Wisconsin Public Radio with host Larry Meiller, Tuesday, September 8. 2009!

The program will begin at 11:00 AM and will highlight the WRWA Fall Writers’ Conference in Eau Claire, September 25-27. Listen in to The Ideas Network in your area, call in if you like, and join in the fun!

WRWA FALL WRITERS' CONFERENCE

The 2009 WRWA Fall Conference in Eau Claire, Wisconsin will offer attendees opportunities to meet and greet speakers that many of us have only dreamt of!


Well known radio talk show host, Jean Feraca, will grace our presence on Saturday afternoon when she reveals her experiences and talks about turning poetry into memoirs.







Noted New York City literary agent, Barbara Poelle, will share her insights on the publishing industry from the big market perspective, and what it takes for new writers to break into the big time.






John Lehman, well known poet and Wisconsin Poet Laureate runner-up, will talk about getting published in the poetry world.









Eva Apelqvist, explains how children's writers can succeed in a failing economy.










Greg Peck, local Wisconsin published author, shares his experiences being published and why he pursued a small mainstream publisher.






Cassie Hansen, local college student, freelancer, and Youth Member’s Service Coordinator will discuss how young writers can get involved and become successful in the writing industry.




The conference has something to offer everyone with Writers’ Breakout Sessions Saturday evening, and opportunities to read material aloud without critique on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The conference will climax with the annual Jade Ring Banquet where Contest winners will receive awards and read their winning entries aloud to the audience. So, this year’s WRWA Fall Writers’ Conference promises to be an event not to miss. Plan to join the fun September 25-27, and meet the professionals, and enjoy the company of all your writer friends. Find out how to register here!

2009 Spring Writers' Conference

MAY 1st and 2nd in SIREN, WI

CLICK ON PICTURE FOR DIRECTIONS AND REGISTRATION

Check out our exciting conference schedule!
Click on speakers names for their bios

Friday, May 1st

6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Writers’ Roundtable (separate sessions for prose and poetry)

Saturday, May 2nd

8:00 – 9:00 Registration, coffee, and meeting each other

9:00 – 9:10 Opening Remarks

Robin Butler, Boyd Sutton, Denis Simonsen

9:10 – 9:30 Brief Presentation: Alan Ansorge Play

9:30 – 9:45 Book Sales/Signing/General Audience Admission

(Public access for Michael Perry’s 1^st presentation only)

9:45 – 10:45 Michael Perry (1) – Stories from Home

10:45 – 11:00 Break – Book Sales/Signing

(People who came only for Perry’s presentation buy books and depart)

11:00 – 12:00 Michael Perry (2) – Freelancing, Publishing, and the Writing Process

12:00 – 12:15 Book Sales/Signing

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

Explanation of Exhibit: Ladysmith Exhibit (writing & visual arts)

Brief Presentation: Tom King (reading/recitation)

Lindemann & Nelson Contest Awards

1:00 – 1:45 Michael Norman – How to gather and organize material for your writing

1:45 – 2:15 Youth Contest Awards (Denis Simonsen and LaMoine MacLaughlin)

1^st place winners read their entries

Cassie Hanson Song

2:15 – 3:00 Beverly Larsen – Poetry is Significant

3:00 – 3:15 Break – Book Sales/Signing

3:15 – 4:15 Open Mic

4:15 – 4:20 Closing Remarks

Robin's Ramblings

Our Board of Directors, acting as a committee-of-the-whole, as it has in the past, is incapable of attending to the growing variety of writers’ needs that WRWA must address today. That’s not because our elected Directors haven’t tried, or haven’t done their jobs. It is because, as the singer says, “The times, they are a-changing,” and one of the biggest—and still expanding—changes in society today is the electronic revolution.
Unless you were born in the Computer Age, and grew up with it, as a Johnny-come-lately senior citizen like me, you have undoubtedly found it difficult to adapt. Just learning to use a word processor, a spreadsheet, and e-mail become challenges, not to mention things like cell phones, iPods, Blackberries, “blogging,” Web “surfing,” Google’ing, and a hundred other electronic devices and processes for instantaneous connection to the whole world.
So, what has the electronic age have to do with providing members’ services in WRWA?
Everything! For example: It will soon be possible to renew your membership and register for a conference by credit card on the WRWA Web site; or, if you do not have computer access, to use your credit card by mail or in person at the registration desk—electronic payment, in other words. That will require a lot of adjustment—time and work—on the part of your officers and “staff” to catch up to other organizations that have been providing that service to their members for years.
That’s just one example of how the electronic age will affect, is affecting, WRWA. I’ll mention more in future “Ramblings,” but here’s another.
All our committees are now in action. They are chaired by competent Directors and “staffed” by willing volunteers from the general membership. And, they are empowered to ACT WITHOUT BOARD INVOLVEMENT as long as their actions are within the coordinated Annual Plan and Annual Budget—which will become a reality at a special board (and staff) meeting called for that purpose on January 17, 2009, in Wisconsin Rapids.
These committees are now conducting their business electronically—by e-mail. After all, with the volume of work facing us to maintain and improve WRWA, no one can afford the time, travel, and expense of in-person committee meetings scattered all over the State of Wisconsin! The Board of Directors, too, will be doing business electronically. In addition to an annual planning/budgeting meeting, the two in-person meetings of the Board in conjunction with the Spring and Fall Conferences, will continue, as will occasional special meetings, but, again, there is simply no way that what has to be done can all be done in just face-to-face meetings.
We Directors, Officers, and Staff are dedicated to the Mission of WRWA, which means we are committed to serve the members. We will use every means available to accomplish the goals and objectives that service requires—and that certainly includes the now-available electronic technology that can assist us.
Robin