It’s only fitting that Wausau-Jill Stukenberg will open the Central Wisconsin Book Festival with her debut novel reading.
The book is called “News of the Air” and has been an effort of faith and resilience for nearly a decade.
“I started writing this novel when my son was six months old, and he is now nine,” says Stukenberg. “I wanted it to be about something, so I think it took a lot of time.”
And she wanted to make sure it was good. She needed resilience to keep making revisions and sending her work to publishers.
That’s where, to some degree, the Central Wisconsin Book Festival comes into play. She has been part of a core group of volunteer organizers for the annual event since its inception in 2017. Meeting authors and readers interested in her books and writing inspired her and helped push her forward. She works hard.
“I also found that real people were writing books, and that it was a community of people supporting each other,” Stukenberg said.
This year, she will be reading her book at the festival, an event on Wednesday at 7pm at Whitewater Music Hall, 130 First St., Wausau.
“News of the Air” tells the story of a couple and their daughter who flee the city after a series of eco-terrorist attacks. They move to a fishing resort in Northwoods, Wisconsin and live peacefully until two strange children arrive by canoe.
“It’s set in the near future and has dystopian elements,” Steukenberg said.
Stackenberg, who grew up in Sturgeon Bay and is an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Wausau, wrote this book before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world.
At first, she feared the book’s themes would not fit with the social reset that occurred during the pandemic. There are aspects of the book that resonate.
The book was published by the Black Lawrence Press of Upstate New York after the novel won the publisher’s Big Moose Award. Stukenberg said he had previously entered his two contests and returned each time he lost to improve and revise the book.
My editor called me to let me know that she had won the contest and that “News of the Air” was going to be featured very nicely.
“It’s been really fun, it’s been great,” said Stukenberg.
Learn more about the Central Wisconsin Book Festival
An initiative of the Marathon County Public Libraries in Wausau, which includes the Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point and the McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, the festival begins Wednesday and runs through September 25th.
The festival features over 25 sessions by several authors and poets at various locations in Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids and Wausau. Log on to www.mcpl.us/cwbf for a complete list of events.
How to buy “News of the Air”
Copies of this book are available at the Junk Book Store, 505 Third St., Wausau. Available from Amazon.com and publisher Black Lawrence Press.
An audio version of this book is available at barnesandnoble.com, along with a digital and paperback version.
Contact Keith Uhlig at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook @UhligK.
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