MONROE - The Monroe Arts Center will kick off its 2011 Writers Series with a free presentation by Wisconsin author Jerry Apps at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 17.
Prior to the evening presentation, Apps will conduct a free writer's workshop titled "Memories into Memoirs" from 2 to 4 p.m. Apps will help participants get in touch with their memories and then show how to craft memories into stories for family, friends, and even for possible publication. Several in-class exercises will be conducted with Apps using his own writing as examples. Workshop space is limited and pre-registration by March 12 is required.
The presentation and workshop take place at the MAC. Apps is the first of three writers included in this series. Chuck Wellington, president of the MAC Foundation board of directors, will host this series.
Apps, who born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 30 books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include: "Living a Country Year," "Every Farm Tells a Story," "When Chores Were Done," "Humor from the Country," "Country Ways and Country Days," "One-Room Schools," "Cheese," "Breweries of Wisconsin," "Ringlingville USA (a history of the Ringling Brothers circus)," "Old Farm: A History," "Barns of Wisconsin," "Horse Drawn Days: A Century of Farming With Horses," and "Campfires and Loon Calls." His children's books are "Stormy," "Eat Rutabagas," "Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers," and "Casper Jaggi: Master Swiss Cheese Maker."
In 2004, he released his first audio book, "The Back Porch and Other Stories," in which he reads eleven of his favorite stories from his best-selling rural history books. In addition, Apps has published four novels, "The Travels of Increase Joseph," "In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story," "Blue Shadows Farm," and "Cranberry Red." He is also a former publications editor for UW-Extension, an acquisitions editor for the McGraw-Hill Book Company, and editor of a national professional journal.
Apps has written more than 800 articles and columns that have appeared in Wisconsin newspapers and magazines, and in national magazines. He has chapters in several books including an article in the "Oxford Companion to United States History." Two recent monographs are: "Giving Old Barns New Life: Ethnic History and Beauty of Old Barns," and "Giving Old Barns New Life: Wisconsin's Changing Farmsteads."
Awards for his writing have been given from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Library Association (the 2007 Notable Authors Award); American Library Association; Foreword Magazine; Midwest Independent Publishers Association; Robert E. Gard Foundation; The Wisconsin Council for Writers (the 2007 Major Achievement Award); Upper Midwest Booksellers; and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, among others. In 2010 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. He is a speaker for the Wisconsin Humanities Council and a member of the Wisconsin Historical Society's Speakers Bureau.
For additional information regarding this presentation and other MAC events, call (608) 325-5700 or online at www.monroeartscenter.com.
Prior to the evening presentation, Apps will conduct a free writer's workshop titled "Memories into Memoirs" from 2 to 4 p.m. Apps will help participants get in touch with their memories and then show how to craft memories into stories for family, friends, and even for possible publication. Several in-class exercises will be conducted with Apps using his own writing as examples. Workshop space is limited and pre-registration by March 12 is required.
The presentation and workshop take place at the MAC. Apps is the first of three writers included in this series. Chuck Wellington, president of the MAC Foundation board of directors, will host this series.
Apps, who born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 30 books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include: "Living a Country Year," "Every Farm Tells a Story," "When Chores Were Done," "Humor from the Country," "Country Ways and Country Days," "One-Room Schools," "Cheese," "Breweries of Wisconsin," "Ringlingville USA (a history of the Ringling Brothers circus)," "Old Farm: A History," "Barns of Wisconsin," "Horse Drawn Days: A Century of Farming With Horses," and "Campfires and Loon Calls." His children's books are "Stormy," "Eat Rutabagas," "Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers," and "Casper Jaggi: Master Swiss Cheese Maker."
In 2004, he released his first audio book, "The Back Porch and Other Stories," in which he reads eleven of his favorite stories from his best-selling rural history books. In addition, Apps has published four novels, "The Travels of Increase Joseph," "In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story," "Blue Shadows Farm," and "Cranberry Red." He is also a former publications editor for UW-Extension, an acquisitions editor for the McGraw-Hill Book Company, and editor of a national professional journal.
Apps has written more than 800 articles and columns that have appeared in Wisconsin newspapers and magazines, and in national magazines. He has chapters in several books including an article in the "Oxford Companion to United States History." Two recent monographs are: "Giving Old Barns New Life: Ethnic History and Beauty of Old Barns," and "Giving Old Barns New Life: Wisconsin's Changing Farmsteads."
Awards for his writing have been given from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Library Association (the 2007 Notable Authors Award); American Library Association; Foreword Magazine; Midwest Independent Publishers Association; Robert E. Gard Foundation; The Wisconsin Council for Writers (the 2007 Major Achievement Award); Upper Midwest Booksellers; and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, among others. In 2010 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. He is a speaker for the Wisconsin Humanities Council and a member of the Wisconsin Historical Society's Speakers Bureau.
For additional information regarding this presentation and other MAC events, call (608) 325-5700 or online at www.monroeartscenter.com.
