10/30/2024
The 2024 Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books will offer a writing contest for college students this fall named for the late Lillian Boese who was a key force in the Festival’s fifteen year history. The Lillian Boese Award for Writing Excellence will include competition in essays, fiction and poetry, and is open to college students who reside or attend college in Southeast Wisconsin.
Lillian Boese, who died in June, was the Executive Director of the UWM-Waukesha Foundation when the Festival of Books was created as an activity of the Foundation in 2009. After her retirement, she continued as Community Co-Chair and as Fundraising Chair for several years. She was active on the committee to save the Festival this year.
The Festival of Books will hold a memorial tribute to her that is open to the public on November 8, at the UWM-Waukesha Commons. The tribute will follow the 7 PM writing contest awards program for the Century Fence Middle and High School Students, and the Duane Stein Short Story Contest.
Please share this information with fellow faculty and staff in your departments, especially those teaching in English. In order to keep the contests alive, we must reel in as many participants as possible.
The ceremony for the college contest be hosted at UWM at Waukesha on December 6th beginning at 7:00 PM.