The 18th annual Chippewa Valley Book Festival October 16-26 has put together a fabulous lineup of authors and literary programs. The premier literary event in our region gets better every year. There are too many events in the Festival to list all in one post so I encourage you to visit their web site. As they say, there really is something for everyone. The featured events are more than worth their ticket prices with the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond presenting, along with award-winning author of The Hearts of Men, Nickolas Butler leading a discussion on building a world class book city here in the Chippewa Valley. These are eye catchers but there are so many hidden jewels in the program. I encourage you to take a close look at their web site or printed program. The library has a limited supply of printed programs available so stop in.
I’m really excited that Menomonie is hosting one of those jewels, the author Melanie McManus who will speak about her adventures hiking Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail on October 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the library. Melanie McManus is a freelance writer and editor specializing in travel and fitness. Her debut memoir, Thousand-Miler, describes her adventures hiking the 1,100-mile Ice Age Trail through Wisconsin’s forests, prairies, wetlands, farms, and small towns. This feat earned her the status as a Thousand-Miler, an elite group of people who have walked the entire Ice Age Trail. McManus has won a gold Lowell Thomas Award for Best Short Travel Article 2016. She has two other Lowell Thomas awards to her credit as well as an honorable mention for Travel Journalist of the Year in 2015. A member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the Society of American Travel Writers, Melanie has also worked as press secretary for the Wisconsin State Legislature. You can get her book Thousand-Miler through the MORE library system.
To date, McManus has twice thru-hiked the Ice Age Trail and is currently exploring the Florida Trail, the New England Scenic Trail, and the North Country Trail. Website: melaniemcmanus.com/