Readings

  • contact:  readings@wiscon.net
  • Deadline for proposals:  March 4

WisCon attracts many talented writers and poets. Regular readings are organized into 75-minute sessions of four or five readers. Open poetry readings and rapid-fire sessions may have as many readers as you like.

To give a reading at WisCon, you must propose your reading by logging on to Your Wiscon Account (left sidebar at the Wiscon46 home page). If you don’t have an account, click on  “New user or forgot your password” and follow the instructions. 1. On the front page, once you’re logged in, under “Do you want to be a panelist and/or moderator?” select “Yes” and click Update.  2. Select Submit a Session in the top menu. 3. On the Submit a Session page, in the first dropdown (Please select a division), choose “Readings.”

Note: If you can, please try to gather up to 5 authors together and submit a group proposal, with all names included in the submission. (Each reader needs to create an account at program.wiscon.net so they can be included in the program, but only one reader should submit the reading.) If you want to be placed with a group by the Readings department, feel free to add a session with information about what you want to read, but mark it with “READING GROUP SOUGHT” in the title. You will be placed together with 3-4 other readers. (We’ll do our best to place similar readers together, but we can’t guarantee there won’t be mismatches, so you’d be better off trying to gather together friends, or reaching out to other attendees with work on a similar theme.)  If the reading should be scheduled online (as opposed to in-person), make sure to mention that under “Additional Equipment Needed / Alternative Format.”

If you have any questions,  contact readings@wiscon.net. We very much prefer people to organize themselves into groups; we will group individual readers who sign up based on availability. Solo readers, please expect a time slot of 10-12 minutes.

Midnight readings sessions are available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night for any groups who would like to tell bedtime stories, ghost stories, erotica, or any other midnight-appropriate material.

With exception of the current Guests of Honor, the rule is ONE READING PER AUTHOR. Due to the sheer number of participating authors, we will be counting rapid-fire readings and poetry readings as “full-length” readings. The only exception to this rule is open mic readings.

Reading locations include the Concourse and local coffee shops.

In many years we have more people who want to read than we have space for. We therefore give priority to authors and groups who have a new or upcoming publication that they’re promoting. We also try to prioritize well-organized groups of authors.