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Volumes of adventure at Edgerton book festival

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Janesville native, mountain climber and author Lori Schneider will talk about her experiences at the Edgerton Sterling North Book and Film Festival this weekend. Also among the featured authors at the festival are actors Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker.

Actors and authors Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker will be featured at the Edgerton Sterling North Book and Film Festival. Submitted photo.

EDGERTON — More than a dozen authors, and several thousand book lovers, are expected to descend upon Edgerton next weekend for the Edgerton Sterling North Book and Film Festival.

Diane Everson, one of the festival’s founders, could not be happier.

For some time, she said, Edgerton had the reputation of being a tobacco town. She wanted to change that.

“Tobacco essentially built our community, and we want to change our image to one of learning and literature,” she said.

The chance to rebrand the small town came seven years ago, when the community members were mulling over ways to celebrate one of their most famous sons, writer Sterling North. The year 2006 was the 100th anniversary of his birth, and to celebrate, they decided to start a book festival.

“It was just interested people who wanted to see the community grow in a new way,” Everson said. “It was something I had been passionate about for years.”

The town is hosting its seventh book and film festival Saturday, Sept. 29, with most events at Edgerton High School.

The day’s events are meant for readers, writers and everyone in between. Events run the gamut from family-friendly fare (authors also will spend time with local students on the school day prior to the festival) to advice on how to get published for aspiring writers. Authors like Stanley Kutler, the University of Wisconsin-Madison historian known for his lawsuit against the National Archives and former President Nixon — subjects about which he has written extensively — relish the chance to talk to readers.

“Book festivals are like the classroom; you have a chance to instruct and interact with people who know something about you,” Kutler said. “It is all very rewarding.”

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The following authors will be appearing at next weekend’s Edgerton Sterling North Book and Film Festival:

-- William Povletich, of “Some Like It Cold: A Sheboygan Surfin’ Safari”; “Milwaukee Braves: Heroes and Heartbreak;” and “Green Bay Packers: Legends in Green and Gold”

-- Stanley I. Kutler, the premier historian of the Watergate controversy, is the author of “The Wars of Watergate” and “Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes.”

-- Ron McCrea, the author of “Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home of Love and Loss.” McCrea’s book documents the first incarnation of Wright’s Wisconsin home, Taliesin, through letters, memoirs, contemporary documents and original photos.

-- Milton J. Bates, the author of “The Bark River Chronicles: Stories From a Wisconsin Watershed.” Bates writes about a Bark River canoe trip that ends at Lake Koshkonong. The memoir blends history, archeology, natural science and environmental issues.

-- Erin Falligant, an American Girl Publishing Co. author and editor. Falligant has developed books across a number of series, including Angelina Ballerina, Hopscotch Hill School and American Girls Short Stories.

-- Pamela R. Quinlan, a retired social worker who developed her Spring Pond series of children’s books while volunteering at a retreat center in Baraboo.

-- Melinda Myers, who is known for her gardener-friendly books and her practical approach to gardening

-- Marnie O. Mamminga, the author of “Return to Wake Robin: One Cabin in the Heyday of Northwood Resorts.”

-- Patricia Dischler of Sauk City, who tells the tale of placing her son in an open adoption in 1985 in her memoir, “Because I Loved You.”

-- Jill Geisler of Bayside, the author of “Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know”

-- Dan Woll, the author of “Death On Cache Lake,” a debut novel

-- Renee Graef of Cedarburg, who is the illustrator of several books, including “Prairie Girl,” “Going West” and “My Book of Little House Prairie Dolls,” as well as E.T.A. Hoffman’s “The Nutcracker.”

-- Nicholas Dettmann, the author of “A Life Worth Dreaming About,” a debut novel.

-- Lori Schneider, a Janesville native who is the first person with multiple sclerosis to climb Mount Everest; she authored “Everest: Climbing Beyond Our Limits.”

-- Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker, authors and acclaimed actors from NBC’s hit series “L.A. Law.”

-- Barbara Joosse of Cedarburg, who has published some 40 picture and chapter books for children.