Calendar
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Community Breakfast
Pancake Breakfast
Date: Sunday, April 30
Time: 8:00 -10:00 am;
Art Contest Awards: 9:00 am
Location: United Methodist Church
Fee: $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids 13 and under
Join us for a community breakfast and award ceremony for the winners of the Art Contest.
Serving 8:00 – 10:00. Menu includes pancakes with real maple syrup, sausage links, baked egg/ham, applesauce, toast, salsa, orange juice, milk and coffee.
Workshop
Poetry Lab
Author: Franciszka Voeltz & Nikki Wallschlaeger
Date: Sunday, April 30
Time: 10:00 am – noon
Location: McIntosh Memorial Library Program Room
Fee: Free. Funded in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Registration: Full
Bring your blank pages and willingness to explore and we’ll bring you a variety of prompts and tactile exercises that we’ll walk through together as a community of writers in this hands-on generative workshop. You don’t have to think of yourself as a poet to participate, you just have to be open to the process of making/creating/crafting with language without attachments to definitive outcomes. Be prepared to surprise yourself! Limited attendance.
Funded in part by a grant from Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Wisconsin Humanities strengthens our democracy through educational and cultural programs that build connections and understanding among people of all backgrounds and beliefs throughout the state.
Poetry Exploration
Poetry Laboratory Stations
Date: Sunday, April 30
Time: 10:00 am – noon
Location: McIntosh Memorial Library
Fee: Free
If you’re interested in playing with poetry prompts and exercises but can’t or don’t want to attend the poetry workshop, come explore the Poetry Laboratory Stations set up throughout the library that will lead you through generating poetic work at your own pace at whatever time (between 10am – 12pm) that works for you! For poets and non-poets of any level.
Performance
“Mapping Out a Life in Poems” and “The Dynamic Shelter of Poetry”
Date: Sunday, April 30
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Location: Encore
Fee: Free. Sponsored by the family of William E. Henner.
In “Mapping Out a Life in Poems,” Angie Trudell Vasquez, current Madison Poet Laureate, will read from her two recent poetry collections, My People Redux and In Light, Always Light, both published by Finishing Line Press in 2022 and 2019, respectively. She will also share ekphrastic poems from the Writing the Land Project written for the Patrick Marsh, and other commissioned pieces during her poet laureate tenure. Her concerns are many and these are reflected in her work as a poet and activist over the decades.
In “The Dynamic Shelter of Poetry,” Nikki Wallschlaeger will read from her recent book Waterbaby, published by Copper Canyon Press in 2021, as well as new poems from Hold Your Own (forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press in 2024. Her latest book is thematically organized around navigating grief and her forthcoming book centers on what comes after it- making a new life after upheaval.
Performance
Community Open Mic
Author: YOU!
Date: Sunday, April 30
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: Encore
Fee: Free
Registration: Sign up here
Join us to hear your community members read their writing!
All are welcome to listen, but readers must register in advance as space is limited.
All times, locations, and programs are subject to change.
The Ridges & Rivers Book Festival will follow any current CDC recommendations concerning COVID-19 protocols.
McIntosh Memorial Library
205 South Rock Avenue, Viroqua, Wisconsin
(608) 637-7151 Ext. 8
