Share, Celebrate, Slam at Washington Island Lit Festival

The Washington Island Literary Festival “Writing Wisconsin: Facts and Fictions” debuts October 4 – 6 at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center.

Featured author and former Wisconsin Public Radio host Jean Feraca will present “From Poetry, To Memoir, To Fiction: A writer’s journey.” She will also lead a panel discussion on the topic: “Why Write? How has writing changed your life?” Panel members include novelists Dale Kushner and Martha Egan, poet Bruce Dethlefsen and WPR host and author Norman Gilliland.

Also joining the Festival program is Mary Fons, a writer, editor, performer, and host of PSB/Create Network’s Quilty. Fons is a nationally ranked slam poet, who got her chops slamming at Chicago’s legendary Green Mill. She has coached, led workshops, performed for, and celebrated hundreds of budding poets. Fons will present an afternoon workshop for festival participants about how to turn reading aloud into performance art. On Oct. 5, she will host both an open mic and slam poetry contest in addition to reading from her own work. This portion of the festival will be free and open to the public.

The registration fee is $90 and includes all events, coffee breaks, Saturday dinner and Sunday morning trip to Rock Island. For more information, contact Mari Anderson ([email protected] or 920.847.2579) or Betsy Wallman ([email protected]), and visit truebloodpac.com.