Wisconsin Literary Luminaries: From Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ayad Akhtar

Wisconsin Literary Luminaries: From Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ayad Akhtar

From the humble Ingalls family cabin in the woods to Ayad Akhtar's multicultural conflicts, the Badger State's stories and imagery have long inspired. Explore how Aldo Leopold and Lorine Niedecker drew on their close observations of the natural world. Contrast the distinct novels that Jane Hamilton and Larry Watson set on Wisconsin apple orchards. Delve into Thornton Wilder's enduringly popular Our Town and the wild fiction of Ellen Raskin and Cordwainer Smith, who wrote like no one else. Join Jim Higgins for a detailed account of ten notable Wisconsin writers that blends history, literary criticism and fact. Jim Higgins is the arts and books editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he has reported since 1983. Jim was part of the Journal Sentinel writing team that won the Association of Food Journalists 2004 award for special projects for a series on obesity. Higgins is a two-time winner of the Sentinel staff–voted award for humor writing. He is a graduate of Marquette University and lives in Milwaukee County.