Review from Resilience.org

I am grateful and honored for this review from Resilience.org, and Frank Kaminski and Mud City Press!

“…an intimate, wonderfully gothic portrait of a remote northern wilderness and the equally remote inner lives of its human inhabitants. On another level still, it’s an uncommonly astute rumination on how small changes over time—whether in the ecology of the planet, the economy of a nation or the depths of the human soul—can cascade into tipping points. In short, Stukenberg’s is an auspicious first novel.”

Book Clubs!

I’ve had a blast meeting with a few books clubs to discuss News of the Air! (I can meet in person in the Central Wisconsin area, or by zoom.) I love the smart questions, perceptive (and differing!) views of my characters–and, always, any conversations that veer into discussion of readers’ own lives.

If you’re in a book club, and thinking of reading News of the Air as a group, here’s a reminder that I’ve also created a discussion guide! (See link below.) And if you invite me, and I can come in person, I’ll bring the snack.

https://blacklawrencepress.com/wp-content/uploads/Teaching-Guide-for-News-of-the-Air.pdf

Book Tour!

Join me at the following events where I’ll read from, talk about, and sign copies of News of the Air!

Wausau, WI, Sept. 21, 7 – 8 pm, Whitewater Music Hall. I’m looking forward to reading as part of the Central Wisconsin Book Festival!

Fish Creek, WI, Oct. 8, 2 – 3:30 pm, Write on, Door County. I’m grateful to return to my home county, and Write On, where I have had fantastic writing residencies!

Online (via Zoom), October 25, Black Lawrence Press. I’ll update with a link to join this free online reading! Watch this space.

Waukesha, WI, Nov. 5, 1:45 – 2:45. Thank you to the Southeast Wisconsin Book Festival for inviting me!

Las Cruces, NM, March 24, New Mexico State University. I’m thrilled to return to my alma mater, where I received my MFA in Fiction!

Do you have an event where you’d like me to read? Please contact me, I’d love to hear about it! jstukenb@uwsp.edu

Interview with 1 Week Critique

I had a really fun conversation with Matthew Schmidt from Iowa-based 1 Week Critique.

See me react to my first printed galley (1:24); learn how I trick myself when revising (15:32); hear why novels are better than movies (minute 21), how Wisconsin politics influenced me (24:34), landscape as a force/Ecofiction (28:15), writing characters different than me (37:10), Ecoterrorism and the craft problem of writing about climate change (44:30), and the dumb thing I said to my publisher when they called to tell me they wanted the book (48:30).

Pre-Orders and new FB author page

This was quite a week–cover reveal, pre-order link, and the creation of my new Facebook author page!

When this novel appears, it will be almost ten years since the idea first found its way to me while on a vacation at a small fishing resort in northern Wisconsin, my own small baby in my arms. I can hardly believe the book is seeing the light of day now–if a lovely, haunting light, like on this beautiful cover.

I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering, which benefits the small independent press the most.

Pre-order link here:

Please also follow me on my new Facebook author page where I will be able to share updates and celebrate the joy of this process!

https://www.facebook.com/Jill-Stukenberg-author-100933749223195/

I don’t publish creative writing pedagogy all the time, but when I do it’s in open access journals

That’s something of a joke. I have published a few articles on teaching creative writing at the college level, and for some scholarly publications. I’m proud of that work, since scholarly articles require a lot of time and peer review can be tough. (If not as much time as writing a novel, or as tough as collecting hundreds of short story rejections over the years in a shoe box in my closet–ha!)

But I am particularly proud of this recent work, which was published by the Journal of Creative Writing Studies. Shout out to the JCWS for being “open access,” which means the scholarship is available for all to read, and for free!

Read article here: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1257&context=jcws

https://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1257&context=jcws

My review of Godspeed, by Nickolas Butler

https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/magazine/fall-2021/book-review/godspeed-nickolas-butler

I was so thrilled to get to review this book by fellow Wisconsin writer Nickolas Butler, and for Wisconsin People and Ideas magazine.

It’s a good one, so please check it out! Then check out Butler’s Little Faith, which is one of my favorite Butler novels of all.

Read the review here: https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/magazine/fall-2021/book-review/godspeed-nickolas-butler

Aim & Flourish Table Talk: Helping Kids Learn to Love Reading and Writing

March 4, 7:30 pm, online

I’ll be talking with homeschooling parents about helping kids learn to love reading and writing. Join me!

I’m still trying to help my own child learn to love reading and writing (even to like it?) but I’ve learned a few things from hearing young people reflect on their own literacy journeys as they begin college. Some of the things that emerge are 1) let kids read anything they love (Neil Gaiman has a great lecture on this “Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading, and Daydreaming” and 2) recognize/count everything as reading and writing. In game video chatting? Watching a movie with subtitles on? Reading the McDonalds drive thru menu? Recognizing all of these moments as part of children’s developing literacy is also to acknowledge that reading and writing are useful in world and part of how we interact in the world.

I’ll work on adding to these ideas before and after this Aim and Flourish discussion!

https://www.aimandflourish.com/tabletalks