Some Beliefs are meant to be shaken up: the alphabet, for example....
We are excited to reveal the following 2010 Featured Presenters...from Z to A:

Dean Young has published nine books of poetry, most recently Primitive Mentor, Embryoyo, and Elegy on Toy Piano, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is currently the William Livingston Chair of Poetry at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong American writer, and author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir from Coffee House Press. Her work has appeared in the Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong Literary Journal and numerous other publications. She currently resides in Minnesota.

Monique Truong was born in Saigon and currently lives in New York City. Her first novel, The Book of Salt, was a New York Times Notable Book. It won the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the 2003 Bard Fiction Prize, the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, and the 7th Annual Asian American Literary Award, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and Britain's Guardian First Book Award. She is the recipient of the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship, Princeton University's Hodder Fellowship, and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenyan teacher, essayist, and playwright, has risen as an important international figure and a unique link between the pioneers of African writing and the younger generation of postcolonial writers. Thiong’o’s experiences in the violent Mau Mau rebellion and poverty stricken Kenya have greatly influenced his writings and his role as a political activist. He has made appearances around the world at numerous universities and as a distinguished speaker, and has received many honors including the 2001 Nonino International Prize for Literature and seven honorary doctorates. His recent book, Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir chronicles his experiences as a youth and makes the political and economic issues of Africa tangible in a way unachievable by new reports or statistics.

Marilyn L. Taylor was appointed Poet Laureate for the State of Wisconsin in 2008. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Atlanta Review, The Cream City Review, and Smartish Pace, among others. She is the author of eight collections of poetry, including Subject to Change, which was nominated for the 2005 Poets Prize, and a new chapbook titled Going Wrong.

Gail Straub is author of the critically acclaimed The Rhythm of Compassion: Caring For Self, Connecting With Society, as well as Circle of Compassion, a book of meditations. Her most recent book is the feminist memoir Returning to My Mother’s House: Taking Back the Wisdom of the Feminine, which has garnered numerous awards including the 2009 Nautilus Award in the category of memoir as well a ForeWord Magazine finalist in the category of family. Straub is a frequent blogger on Huffington Post. Considered a leading authority on empowerment, Gail Straub co-directs the Empowerment Institute a school for transformative leadership. Over the past 30 years she has trained thousands of people worldwide in empowerment, engaged spirituality, and the wisdom of the feminine. Currently she is working on her first novel. She lives with her husband in the Hudson River Valley in New York, and can be reached at www.empowermenttraining.com.

Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His second novel, Absurdistan, was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, as well as a best book of the year by Time, The Washington Post Book World, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. He has been selected as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, and Travel + Leisure and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. His newest novel, Super Sad True Love Story is just out from Random House and is an instant New York Times bestseller. He lives in New York City.

Patrick Rothfuss had the good fortune to be born in Wisconsin where long winters and lack of cable television brought about a love of reading and writing. While wandering aimlessly in college, Pat wrote poetry, scripts for radio comedy, and a satirical advice column. He also finished the first draft of a mammoth fantasy novel called The Name of the Wind. Seven years and countless revisions later, Pat managed to get that novel published. Since 2007 The Name of the Wind has won awards, been translated into 30 languages, and hit bestseller lists all over the world. Pat continues to live in central Wisconsin. He still lacks cable television, and the long winters force him to stay inside and write.

Sara Rath is the author of over a dozen books ranging from poetry collections and novels to biographies and pictorial works. Her novels include the bestselling Star Lake Saloon and Housekeeping Cottages, which was featured on Wisconsin Public Radio’s "Chapter A Day" program, and Night Sisters, which Publishers Weekly called "a witty blend of the occult, suspense, mystery and a dash of romance." Her latest book, H. H. Bennett, Photographer: His American Landscape is a lavishly illustrated biography of the pioneering 19th century photographer, drawing on Bennett’s letters and journals to portray the sweep of his career and personal life. Rath has received numerous honors and awards for her writing, including the Wisconsin Library Association’s Banta Award, a MacDowell Fellowship, a Ucross Foundation Fellowship, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

Steve Paulson, a 1983 graduate of UW-Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the Executive Producer of Wisconsin Public Radio’s nationally-syndicated radio show "To the Best of Our Knowledge." Paulson has written for Salon, Slate and other publications. His work as a journalist, author and radio producer has earned him awards from the Northwest Broadcast News Association and the Milwaukee Press Club. His recent book, Atoms and Eden: Conversations on Religion and Science, is published by Oxford University Press.

Susan Patron specialized in Children's Services for 35 years at the Los Angeles Public Library before retiring in 2007, the same year her novel The Higher Power of Lucky was awarded the John Newbery Medal. As the library's Juvenile Materials Collection Development Manager, she trained and mentored children's librarians in 72 branches. Patron has served on many book award committees, including the Caldecott and Laura Ingalls Wilder Committees of the American Library Association. She is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Patron's previous books for children include the Billy Que trilogy of picture books; Dark Cloud Strong Breeze; and a chapter book, Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe. All earned starred reviews, and the latter was named an ALA Notable book. The Higher Power of Lucky will be translated into twelve foreign languages and has been optioned for a motion picture.

Judy Pasternak is a writer who lives near Washington DC. She worked for the Los Angeles Times for 24 years, in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, tackling subjects as varied as al Qaeda's private airline, a band of right-wing bank robbers, backstage maneuvering at Dick Cheney's energy task force and the giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way. She has won numerous awards for environmental and investigative journalism. Previously, she worked at the Detroit Free Press, Baltimore News American and Hollywood (Fla.) Sun-Tattler. She is married, with one son.

Ronald Numbers is an historian of science and medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of The Creationists, a definitive history of the creationist movement, and also the co-editor of God and Nature, a seminal collection of essays on the historical relationship between science and religion. He has served as president of the History of Science Society, the American Society of Church History, and the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science, Division of the History of Science and Technology.

Michele Norris was a correspondent for ABC News from 1993 to 2002. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in electrical engineering, and graduated from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she studied journalism. She wrote for The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. She currently is the host for NPR’s evening news program, All Things Considered. Her new book, The Grace of Silence, addresses "the hidden conversation on race" that is going on in the United States.

Novelist, poet, and essayist Mukoma wa Ngugi is the author of Nairobi Heat, an anthology of poetry titled Hurling Words at Consciousness, and is a political columnist for the BBC's Focus on Africa Magazine. He was short listed for the Caine Prize for African writing in 2009. He has also been shortlisted for the 2010 Penguin Prize for African Writing for his novel manuscript, The First and Second Books of Transition. His fiction and poems have appeared in New York Quarterly, Kenyon Review, Wasafiri, St. Petersburg Review, Brick Magazine, Kwani?, Chimurenga as well as in a number of anthologies. His columns have appeared in the Guardian, International Herald Tribune, Chimurenga, Los Angeles Times, South African Labour Bulletin and he has been a guest on Democracy Now, Al Jazeera and the BBC World Service. His essays have appeared in the World Literature Review, the Black Commentator, Progressive Magazine and Radical History Review.

Curt Meine, Ph.D., is a conservation biologist, historian, and writer. Meine has edited and authored several books. His biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work, published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1988, was the first full-length biography of Leopold, and was named Book of the Year by the Forest History Society. He has edited the volumes The Essential Aldo Leopold: Quotations and Commentaries and Wallace Stegner and the Continental Vision. His most recent book is Correction Lines: Essays on Land, Leopold, and Conservation. Meine is a recipient of the Bay Foundation’s Biodiversity Leadership Award and the Quivira Coalition’s Outstanding Conservation Leadership Award.

Danielle L. McGuire was born in Janesville, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University. She is an assistant professor in the History Department at Wayne State University and lives in Detroit, Michigan.

Bill C. Malone, professor emeritus of history at Tulane University, is the author of Country Music, U.S.A.; Southern Music/American Music; Singing Cowboys and Musical Mountaineers: Southern Culture and the Roots of Country Music, and, most recently, Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class. He is the host of the radio show Back to the Country, on WORT in Madison, WI.

Bill Lueders is the news editor of Isthmus weekly newspaper in Madison, and the elected president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a statewide group that works to protect public access to meetings and records. Lueders has worked at Isthmus since 1986, receiving national awards for editorial writing and reporting on animal issues, and state awards for investigative reporting, legal reporting, interpretative reporting, business reporting, and column writing. He is the author of An Enemy of the State: The Life of Erwin Knoll, and Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman’s Harrowing Quest for Justice. He lives on Madison’s north side with his wife, Linda Falkenstein, and two much-loved dogs.

John Lehman is the founder of Rosebud Magazine. He is literary editor of Wisconsin People & Ideas as well as managing partner of Zelda Wilde Publishing. He originated the Prairie Fire Poetry Quartet, YogaWrite and an interactive writing website, www.CoolPlums.com. John was twice a finalist for Wisconsin Poet Laureate. Dramatic readings of his plays, A Brief History of My Tattoo, The Jane Test, Please Adjust Your Mask and The Writer’s Cave, have been presented in Milwaukee, Madison and Saint Petersburg. His poetry collections include The Village Poet, Acting Lessons, Shrine of the Tooth Fairy, Dogs Dream of Running and Shorts. His nonfiction books are America’s Greatest Unknown Poet: Lorine Niedecker and Everything is Changing: How to Gain Loyal Customers Quickly. John grew up in Chicago but for the last twenty years he has lived with his wife, Talia Schorr, their three dogs and five cats in Rockdale, the smallest incorporated village in Wisconsin.

Daniel Kehlmann is a German language author of both Austrian and German nationality. His novel Measuring the World was translated into more than 40 languages. He has been awarded the Candide Prize, the Literature Prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Doderer Prize, the Kleist Prize, the WELT Literature Prize, and the Thomas Mann Prize. He divides his time between Vienna and Berlin.

Lauren Groff is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Monsters of Templeton, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers, and Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories. She has an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was the Axton Fellow in Fiction at the University of Louisville, and has had fellowships at Bread Loaf, Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, and Ragdale. Her fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and appeared in journals including the Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and One Story, and anthologies including Best New American Voices and the 2007 and 2010 editions of Best American Short Stories. She lives in Gainesville, Florida with her family.

Susan Firer’s most recent book is Milwaukee Does Strange Things to People: New & Selected Poems 1997-2007. Her previous books have been awarded the Cleveland State University Poetry Center Prize, the Posner Award, and the Backwaters Prize. She is a former Poet Laureate of Milwaukee, and the recipient of many fellowships and awards, including the Milwaukee County Artist Fellowship, a Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship, the Lorine Niedecker Award, and in 2009 the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee Distinguished Alumnus Award. She has poems forthcoming in Visiting Dr. Williams: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of William Carlos Williams (University of Iowa Press), The Cento: A Collection of Collage Poems (Red Hen Press), and Court Green’s Frank O’Hara Dossier. She edits the Shepherd Express online poetry column, available at MilwaukeeExpress.com.

Fabu is the third Madison Poet Laureate and a graduate from UW-Madison in African Languages and Literature and Afro-American Studies. She serves the Madison community as a poet, storyteller and educator. As a literary artist, she creates and shares poetry reflecting her life spent in Memphis, Tennessee; Nairobi, Kenya; and Madison, Wisconsin. Her poetry has appeared in Callaloo, PMS (Poems, Memoirs and Stories), Southern Women's Review, Black Books Bulletin, The Wisconsin Academy Review, UMOJA Magazine, Rosebud Magazine, The Madison Times, The Capital City Hues and Verse Wisconsin. She is also a monthly columnist for The Capital Times and The Capital City Hues newspapers. She recently performed original poetry about Mary Lou Williams to a sold-out audience at the Overture Center. www.artistfabu.com.

Danielle Evans is a fiction writer and professor of creative writing and literature. Her work has appeared in magazines including The Paris Review, A Public Space, Callaloo, and Phoebe, has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2008, and is forthcoming in New Stories from the South and the Best American Short Stories 2010. She is the author of the short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, and is currently at work on a novel titled The Empire Has No Clothes. She received an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers Workshop, was a fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and is now teaching fiction at American University in Washington, D.C.

Gwynne Dyer is one of the world's great geopolitical analysts. He has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, author, broadcaster, and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. His column is published by 175 newspapers around the world and is translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the author of several books, including War, Future: Tense and The Mess They Made.

Susanna Daniel was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She was a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her novel, Stiltsville, is the story of a three-decade-long marriage, set against a vivid and lush South Florida background. Susanna lives with her husband and son in Madison, Wisconsin, where during the long winter she dreams of the sun and the sea, and of jumping off the stilt house porch at high tide. She is at work on a second novel.

Joshua Clover is a poet, critic, journalist and author. His first collection of poems, Madonna anno domini, won the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets. He is a regular contributor to Village Voice, and was a senior writer for Spin. His most recent books include The Matrix, a book of film criticism, and 1989: Bob Dylan Didn't Have This to Sing About. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis.

Susana Chávez-Silvermanis professor of romance languages and literatures at Pomona College in California. She is coeditor of Tropicalizations: Transcultural Representations of Latinidad and Reading and Writing the Ambiente: Queer Sexualities in Latino, Latin American, and Spanish Culture. Her crónicas have been chosen for inclusion in the inaugural edition of The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature.

Lan Samantha Chang's fiction has appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Story and The Best American Short Stories 1994 and 1996. Chang is the author of the award-winning books Hunger, Inheritance, and the novel All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost. Her many awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Truman Capote Fellowship and she was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She lives in Iowa City, Iowa, where she directs the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Harriet Brown has worked at many magazines and newspapers, including Popular Science, New York Woman, Wigwag, Redbook, and 7 Days, and is an eclectic and curiosity-driven writer. She believes in the power of the first-person narrative and writes about the things that interest and move her, including medicine, the lives of women and children, and the arts. Her current book, Brave Girl Eating, is based on a 2006 New York Times Magazine article, "One Spoonful at a Time." Brown is an assistant professor of magazine journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Deborah Blum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. As a science writer for the Sacramento Bee, Blum wrote The Monkey Wars a series of articles examining the professional, ethical, and emotional conflicts between scientists who use animals in their research and animal rights activists who oppose that research. The series won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting.

Robert A. Birmingham served as Wisconsin State Archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society for fifteen years. He now teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha and writes from his home in Madison. He is coauthor, with Leslie E. Eisenberg, of Indian Mounds of Wisconsin (awarded the Elizabeth A. Steinberg Prize), and, with Lynn G. Goldstein, of Aztalan: Mysteries of an Ancient Indian Town.

Jerry Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 25 books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include Barns of Wisconsin, Every Farm Tells a Story, Breweries of Wisconsin, Ringlingville USA, Old Farm: A History, and Horse Drawn Days. Jerry has published four novels in his popular Ames County series: The Travels of Increase Joseph, In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story, Blue Shadows Farm, and Cranberry Red. Taken together, they portray the changing face of Wisconsin farming over the course of the last 150 years. His children's books include: Stormy, Eat Rutabagas, and Casper Jaggi: Master Swiss Cheese Maker. His writing has received numerous awards, including the 2007 Major Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Council for Writers. For more information, visit www.jerryapps.com.