Meet the Authors
Thank you to the 2026 Chippewa Valley Book Festival authors. We appreciate them sharing their stories with our community of readers.
V.T. Bidania
V.T. BIDANIA is the author of the middle-grade verse novel, A Year Without Home, a fictionalized memoir about her family’s escape from Laos after the Vietnam War and their year living in refugee camps before resettling in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also writes the Astrid & Apollo and Extraordinary Eliana chapter books. She has an MFA in creative writing from the New School and is a McKnight Writing Fellow. She lives outside the Twin Cities with her family.
>> ATTEND HER EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Anika Fajardo
ANIKA FAJARDO is the author of The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore, an International Latino Book Award Gold Medal winner, winner of the Friends of American Writers Literature Award, and finalist for the 2026 Minnesota Book Award. She is also the author of Magical Realism for Non-Believers: A Memoir of Finding Family, and the award-winning middle-grade novels What If a Fish and Meet Me Halfway. Born in Colombia and raised in Minnesota, she currently lives with her family in Minneapolis.
>> ATTEND HER EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Layne Fargo
LAYNE FARGO has a background in theater, women’s studies, and library science, so it’s only fitting that she now writes deliciously dramatic, unapologetically feminist stories for a living. She’s the bestselling author of the novels The Favorites, They Never Learn, and Temper, as well as co-author on the Young Rich Widows series, and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Layne lives in Chicago with her partner, their pets, and an ever-expanding collection of books she’s definitely going to read before she dies.
>> ATTEND HER EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Matt Forbeck
MATT FORBECK is an award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author and game designer of over thirty-five novels and countless other books and games. His projects have won a Peabody Award, a Scribe Award, and several ENnies and Origins Awards. He also runs the Diana Jones Award Foundation and is the father of five, including a set of quadruplets. He lives in Beloit, Wisconsin, with his wife and a rotating cast of college-age kids.
forbeck.com
>> ATTEND HIS EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Thomas Fuller
THOMAS FULLER is a Page One Correspondent for The New York Times and author of The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory. The book was chosen by Amazon as the Best Book of 2024. He has reported from more than forty countries for The Times and International Herald Tribune in Asia, Europe and across the United States.
>> ATTEND HIS EVENTS AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Rebecca Kauffman
REBECCA KAUFFMAN received her MFA in Creative Writing from NYU. She is the author of Another Place You’ve Never Been, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize; The Gunners, which received the Premio Tribùk dei Librai; The House on Fripp Island; Chorus, and The Reservation. Originally from rural northeastern Ohio, Kauffman now lives in Virginia.
rebeccakauffman.net
>> ATTEND HER EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Pao Lor
PAO LOR is Associate Dean for the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and holds a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to being at UW-La Crosse, Pao was a Wood Baer Professor of Education and Budgetary Chair for the Professional Program in Education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Before joining higher education, he was a middle and high school administrator, middle and high school teacher, university academic advisor, and high school varsity soccer head coach. Pao is the author of Modern Jungles and Bamboo Son. He was born in Laos, lived in two refugee camps in Thailand before resettling in Long Beach, California, in 1980, and then moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin to be closer to family. Today, Pao and his family reside in Kimberly, Wisconsin.
>> ATTEND HIS EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Jerry Poling
JERRY POLING is an author, editor, and longtime journalist who spent twenty-seven years at the Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is best known for his book A Summer Up North: Henry Aaron and the Legend of Eau Claire Baseball, which details the Hall of Famer’s start in the minor leagues. Poling currently serves as the assistant director of Communications at the University of Wisconsin–Stout. His writing often explores regional history and sports, and he has contributed to numerous publications throughout the Chippewa Valley. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.
>> ATTEND HIS EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Kelly Ramsey
KELLY RAMSEY was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. She studied poetry writing at the University of Virginia and earned an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh. She later moved to Northern California, where she worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a trail maintenance worker, wilderness ranger, and wildland firefighter on a hotshot crew. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Sierra, Electric Literature, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger. She lives in Bishop, California, with her partner, their daughter, and their dog, a lab mix who won’t swim named Rookie.
>> ATTEND HER EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Mary Roach
MARY ROACH is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Stiff, Spook, Bonk, Gulp, Grunt, Fuzz, and Packing for Mars. Her newest book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, continues the tradition. Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine, among others, and her TED talk made the TED 20 Most Watched list. She has been a guest editor for Best American Science and Nature Writing, a finalist for the Royal Society's Winton Prize, and a winner of the American Engineering Societies' journalism award, in a category for which, let's be honest, she was the sole entrant.
Michael Torres
MICHAEL TORRES was born and brought up in Pomona, California where he spent his adolescence as a graffiti artist. His debut collection of poems, An Incomplete List of Names (Beacon Press, 2020) was selected by Roque Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series and named one of NPR’s Books We Love, 2020. Currently he’s an Associate Professor in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a teaching artist with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.
>> ATTEND HIS EVENT AT THE FESTIVAL <<
Rita Woods
RITA WOODS writes historical novels, including The Edge of Yesterday, infused with fantasy and magic. Born and raised in Detroit, she is a board certified physician and runs the medical division of a men’s maximum security prison. Twice named one of Chicago’s Top 50 artists of the year, she lives outside of Chicago with her family and a cast of cats, and serves as a Trustee on her local Library Board. Rita is a history nerd and a caffeine addict. She loves to travel and never misses the opportunity to visit a cemetery.
