Book Festival Decision Might Come This Week

The fate of the Wisconsin Book Festival may be decided this week. The Madison Public Library Foundation is taking a good look at whether it can afford to take over the state’s largest literary festival, which has been held each fall in Madison for the last ten years.The Wisconsin Humanities Council previously ran the free, five day event. Executive Director Dena Wortzel says their recent decision to drop the festival was a strategic one, to more align with their statewide mission, “While we love the book festival and we know it is beloved by the thousands of people who attend it every year it is something that serves more people in Madison and southcentral Wisconsin than it does the rest of the state. And so it was simply a matter of proportion.”

Wortzel says the book festival also took a lot of time and money to put on. She says she’s hopeful that the library foundation will be able to take over the event. A decision is expected by the end of the week.