Wisconsin’s Own Library
Creative Writing Workshop
Description of workshop
We invite you to apply to bring up to 15 sophomore and junior level students to the Wisconsin’s Own Library Creative Writing Workshop held at Ripon College on March 26th. This inaugural workshop will be led by Nickolas Butler, internationally renowned author of five novels, Ripon College’s Creative Writing Professor, Dr. Megan Gannon, and Wisconsin’s Own Library Poet-in-Residence, Chessy Normile. Participants will take part in a session with each of the instructors on fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.
If your group is selected to take part, you and your students will be bussed from your high school to Ripon College for the 9:30 start of the workshop. Lunch, snacks, and bussing are provided free of charge.
Wisconsin’s Own Library
Located in Lane Library at Ripon College, Wisconsin’s Own Library is a special collection of works either about Wisconsin or by writers with a Wisconsin connection. The collection includes over 2000 works of poetry by Wisconsin writers, one of the largest collections of its kind. The collection is owned and supported by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Wisconsin. This workshop is also made possible due to the generous support of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Wisconsin and the Gwendolyn M. Schultz Trust.
Registration
To apply, please fill out this form. Apply by December 15th. Decisions will be made by January 15th.
Instructors
Fiction: Nickolas Butler
Author Shotgun Lovesongs, Little Faith, and A Forty Year Kiss
Nickolas Butler was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. His first novel was the internationally best-selling and prize-winning Shotgun Lovesongs, which has been optioned for film development and has been translated into over ten languages. Beneath the Bonfire, a collection of short stories, followed a year later. In 2017, he published The Hearts of Men which was short-listed for two of France’s most prestigious literary prizes even before its American publishing. In 2019, his fourth book, Little Faith was published to critical acclaim. Butler published Godspeed in 2021, a literary thriller set in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that was longlisted for the Reading the West Book Award. His latest, A Forty Year Kiss is a small-town love-story set in Chippewa Falls, WI
Creative Nonfiction: Dr. Megan Gannon
Associate Professor, Chair of English Department, and Director of Ripon College’s Creative Writing track
Megan Gannon was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa. A graduate of Vassar College (BA), the University of Montana (MFA), and the University of Nebraska (PhD,) she is the author of Cumberland, a novel, and White Nightgown, a poetry collection. Her second book of poems, Dispatch from Every Second Guess, was awarded the 2024 Dzanc Poetry Prize and is forthcoming in March 2026.
Poetry: Chessy Normile
Wisconsin’s Own Library Poet-in-Residence 2025-2026
Chessy Normile is author of Great Exodus, Great Wall, Great Party (2020 APR/Honickman First Book Prize), named one of the Best Poetry Books of 2020 in The New York Times and included in the 16th Annual Look at Debut Poets in Poets & Writers Magazine. Ho ho ho. Her poems have appeared in The Nation, The American Poetry Review, jubilat, Poets.org, Narrative, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Proceedings of the Ordinary Annual General Meeting, was published by After Hours Editions in 2024. She received a BA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in poetry with a secondary concentration in playwriting from The Michener Center for Writers at UT-Austin, where she was awarded an Academy of American Poets University Prize. Recipient of the 2022-23 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at UW-Madison, Chessy currently lives in Madison, WI where she teaches poetry classes and edits a zine series called Girl Blood Info.
| Schedule of Events | |
|---|---|
| 9:30-10:00 am | Arrival: Refreshments |
| 10:00 am | Opening: Words of Welcome and Introductions |
| 10:30 am | Session I (Students rotate between the three instructors) |
| Noon | Lunch |
| 12:45 pm | Session II |
| 2:15 pm | Break: Refreshments |
| 2:30 pm | Session III |
| 4:00 pm | Wrap Up: Rapid fire reading |
| 4:30 pm | Buses leave |
Contact
Workshop Director: Andrew Prellwitz,
Director of Lane Library
[email protected]
(920) 748-8752