Days are getting shorter. The air is getting crisper. For book lovers, this is a welcome harbinger of a very important event: the third annual Wisconsin Book Festival, a program of the Wisconsin Humanities Council (WHC).

Although the bulk of Festival activities take place in Madison from Oct. 6 to 10, 2004, the Festival also incorporates events taking place across the state and throughout the year. Like years past, the 2004 festival will be a jam-packed literary smorgasbord with events suited to all ages and tastes.

Some events this year are tied in with one of the WHC's other major initiatives, "A More Perfect Union." Launched at the 2003 Book Festival, "A More Perfect Union" encourages Wisconsinites to read four books addressing issues like participatory democracy and how political campaigns are conducted. Throughout the past year, state residents have come together to discuss these books in public libraries and other settings around the state, in cities like Green Bay, Sheboygan, Waukesha, Madison and Superior. Events are still ongoing. At the 2004 Book Festival in Madison, a special event will celebrate literature and voting rights, and even include a nonpartisan voter registration table for new voters. This special "Why I Vote" session will include Stephen Elliot, a novelist and political writer; songwriter Sean Michael Dargan; journalist John Nichols of Madison's Capital Times; nonfiction author Rob Nixon; and several poets. "Why I Vote" takes place at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 6, at the Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium, located off Library Mall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Another highlight of the Festival—which includes dozens of events in numerous locations over five days—is the Saturday Night Festival of Fiction, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides, National Book Award Finalist Edwidge Danticat, and acclaimed short story writers Charles Baxter and Richard Bausch, among others.

Also making Festival appearances are first-time novelist and award-winning poet Tenaya Darlington of Madison; staff writers from satirical newspaper The Onion; Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis; children's author Kevin Henkes; Wisconsin Public Radio personality Michael Feldman; and many more.

Although the sheer number and variety of Wisconsin Book Festival events can seem daunting to word lovers, the best way to take advantage of these offerings—nearly all of which are free to the public—is to simply get a schedule, grab a pen or highlighter and dig in. While you can't get to everything, you can't go wrong, either. To view the complete schedule, visit the Festival's official Web site. In the Madison area, book lovers can pick up a printed schedule tucked in the Oct. 1 issue of the weekly newspaper Isthmus.

If the 2004 Wisconsin Book Festival is as varied and engaging as last year's—and, judging from the schedule, it promises to be—it is a don't-miss event for anyone who cares about reading, writing and literacy.