Ridges and Rivers Book Festival

An Added Bonus—Michael Perry Live
2025-04-26 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | The Historic Temple Theatre, 116 S. Main St., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Our friends at the Historic Temple Theatre are hosting New York Times bestselling author Michael Perry in conjunction with the Ridges & Rivers Book Festival. A farm boy turned humorist, Michael Perry is known for his funny and heartwarming takes on life in rural America, and he is the author of Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time; Truck: A Love Story; the recently published Forty Acres Deep; and many other books. You can purchase tickets for this Historic Temple Theatre production at www.historictempletheatre.com/tickets.

The Importance of Books in a Time of Chaos
2025-04-26 15:00 - 16:00 | The Historic Temple Theatre, 116 S. Main St., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Bestselling author William Kent Krueger explores how books have helped him and others survive the chaos of life. A question-and-answer session and book signing follow the presentation. Admission is free, but registration is requested at www.historictempletheatre.com/tickets. Seating is limited.

Dark Waters: Crafting Mystery and Meaning in the Northwoods
2025-04-26 13:30 - 14:30 | The Western Wisconsin Technical College’s Classroom, 220 S. Main St., Viroqua, Wisconsin, 54665
Join author Amy Pease as she discusses her gripping debut novel, Northwoods, a layered mystery that explores how far people will go to protect the ones they love. Set against the atmospheric backdrop of Wisconsin’s lake country, the story follows a troubled sheriff’s deputy investigating the death of a teenage boy, while confronting his own demons from military service. Pease will share her journey crafting this emotionally resonant thriller, including how she developed its rich cast of characters, built suspense across multiple timelines, and tackled sensitive themes like PTSD, addiction, and family trauma. She’ll discuss how setting plays a crucial role in mystery writing and how she used the stark beauty and isolation of the Northwoods to amplify the story’s mood and themes. Join us for an engaging conversation about writing, redemption, and finding light in dark places.

Morris & Boris
2025-04-26 13:30 - 14:30, 2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | McIntosh Memorial Library Adult Area, 205 S. Rock Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Morris and Boris are great friends who have fun together, but sometimes they have difficulty in understanding each other. Ian and Elisabeth Baird (Wisconsin Family Theater) perform a dramatization based on the beloved series of children’s books by Bernard Wiseman.

Wisconsin Idols: 100 Heroes Who Changed the State, the World, and Me
2025-04-26 13:30 - 14:30 | Vernon County Museum and History Center, 410 S. Center Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Drawing from his new essay collection, author and journalist Dean Robbins offers a unique perspective on legendary figures with often surprising connections to Wisconsin, including the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jackie Robinson, and Oprah Winfrey. With revelatory anecdotes, humorous details, and poignant storytelling, Robbins establishes Wisconsin as a notably influential state: a crossroads for people who changed the world.

Empresses and Orchids
2025-04-26 13:30 - 14:30 | Viroqua City Hall Community Room, 124 W. Decker St., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Erica Hannickel will read and project hundreds of full-color slides from her award-winning book, Orchid Muse: A History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers. This talk will take you around the world in search of beautiful flowers and powerful women throughout time.

Dachshund Discoveries: On the Farm
2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Bethel Home, 614 S. Rock Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Educator and author Breta Lee explains how a children’s picture book is made. Based on her life on the Lee family farm with her daughters and dachshunds, Dachshund Discoveries: On the Farm was written to encourage a love for reading, nature, and environmental stewardship in young readers. And there will be a special guest from the book to help her do that.

What the Light Is Hiding
2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Vernon County Museum and History Center, 410 S. Center Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Long before modern Dark Sky initiatives, some Driftless area residents resisted the electric lights that would ruin their nighttime freedom and ease among shadows. Using the essay “Night Vision” from Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless, Tamara Dean explores rural electrification and night vision technology through the stories of nonconformists who over the past century have embraced or sought to conquer the darkness.

Still True
2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Viroqua City Hall Community Room, 124 W. Decker St., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Maggie Ginsberg will read from her debut novel, Still True, winner of the Wisconsin Library Association’s 2023 Literary Award for Fiction. She’ll talk about how nearly twenty years of working in journalism informs her fiction and helps her create characters and places that feel real—and why that matters.

The Disappearing American Farmer: Saving Our Family Farms & Food
2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:00 | The Western Wisconsin Technical College’s Classroom, 220 S. Main St., Viroqua, Wisconsin, 54665
Join author and Driftless Area farm boy Brian Reisinger for a discussion of his book on the economic and cultural crisis that is threatening our very food supply. Land Rich, Cash Poor is the critically acclaimed untold history of the disappearing American farmer that has started a national conversation about our food, economic security, environment, health, and more. Called “an anthem to the family farm in America” by the AP Book Review, Land Rich, Cash Poor weaves the hidden history driving this crisis with the author’s own family’s four-generation fight for survival on their Wisconsin farm. Reisinger reveals the truth about the challenges facing family farms in Wisconsin and across the country—and how to chart a brighter future.

Solving Mysteries in the Driftless
2025-04-26 09:30 - 10:30 | Bethel Home, 614 S. Rock Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Local mystery writer Sue Berg discusses the joys and risks of writing, revising, and self-publishing as she chronicles how she constructs her books set in the Driftless. As well as providing insights into her writing life and how she got started, she will also read from her new books, Driftless Identity and Death at the Dentist. A question-and-answer session follows Sue’s presentation, and she will be manning a table at the book fair in the McIntosh Memorial Library.

Promoting Positive Community Change
2025-04-26 09:30 - 10:30 | Viroqua City Hall Community Room, 124 W. Decker St., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Tom Mosgaller, co-author of Pulling Together: A Handbook for Community Change, shares success stories from Southwest Wisconsin featured in this essay collection and explains the framework needed to guide people in the process of community change. The book captures the stories and lesson learned by real people seeking positive change in their communities, and gives inspiration and practical guidance to get things done while being an antidote to the politics of polarization that pull us apart. Pastor Michele Engh of Viroqua, one of the storytellers featured in the book, will also share her story.

How to Be a Real-Life Hero
2025-04-26 09:30 - 10:30 | McIntosh Memorial Library Program Room, 205 S. Rock Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Children’s author and journalist Dean Robbins presents an entertaining and inspiring multimedia program based on his picture-book biographies You Are a Star, Martin Luther King, Jr., The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith!, The Shape of Things: How Mapmakers Picture Our World, and The Fastest Girl on Earth!: Meet Kitty O’Neil, Daredevil Driver. Emphasizing audience participation, Robbins helps kids understand how they can become real-life heroes themselves.

Protecting Paradise in the Driftless: How the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Came to Be
2025-04-26 09:30 - 10:30 | Vernon County Museum and History Center, 410 S. Center Ave., Viroqua, WI, 54665
Marcy West, the former executive director of the KVR, reads from her book, which introduces the magnificent Kickapoo Valley Reserve and provides a fascinating overview of how this amazing property is permanently protected through a unique agreement with the Ho-Chunk Nation and the State of Wisconsin.

Rural Stories: Writers of Color
2025-04-26 09:30 - 10:30 | The Western Wisconsin Technical College’s Classroom, 220 S. Main St., Viroqua, Wisconsin, 54665
Join author and editor Keith Lesmeister as he shares rural stories with unique perspectives. Using The EastOver Anthology of Rural Stories: Writers of Color, Keith will discuss the art and sweat of creating an anthology and will share his broad experience as a writer, editor, and publisher living in Decorah, Iowa.
