Yesterday I drove back from Vassar, Michigan, after my sister-in-law’s mom’s funeral. Suzanne Martinson. I had known her for about twenty years. To me she was warm, generous, the kind of person who made you feel like you had a place at the table. Years ago she gave The Romance Department of Lit Commons (wife) and I a cookbook she helped write about Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house outside Pittsburgh. At the time it struck me as oddly specific, a cookbook tied to one house, one place.
It makes more sense to me now.
Places carry stories the way people do. Food, memory, architecture, community. Someone has to bother to write those things down before they drift away. That cookbook was doing exactly that, capturing a moment around a place that meant something to people.
What I didn’t fully grasp back then was how much writing had been woven through her life. Two James Beard awards for food writing; journalism that contributed to Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the Mount St. Helens eruption; a career that moved through newsrooms, kitchens, and communities.
Driving home yesterday I kept thinking about how many writers are quietly living around us in the Midwest.
People who did remarkable work somewhere along the way. Books, reporting, cookbooks. Stories that touched readers for a while. Then life moves on and they become the neighbor, the relative, the familiar face at a family gathering. This project keeps reminding me that the Midwest is full of those stories.
Writers are everywhere here.
Sometimes we just forget to notice them.
A Midwest Writer You Might Not Know Yet
Suzanne Martinson
A Michigan writer whose work moved between kitchens, newsrooms, and community history.
• Two James Beard Awards for food writing
• Reporter contributing to the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize–winning coverage of the Mt. St. Helens eruption
The Midwest is full of stories like this.
Here are some of the writers and literary gatherings happening across the Midwest this week.
Editor’s Picks
Mar 9, 2026: Cristina Rivera Garza: Confronting Gender Violence Through Literature - East Lansing, MI
Mar 9, 2026: Author Markus Zusak at Sari Feldman Auditorium - Parma, OH
Mar 10, 2026: The Demon of Unrest with Erik Larson and Barbara McQuade - West Bloomfield Twp, MI
Mar 11, 2026: Literati Presents: Patti Smith - Ann Arbor, MI
Mar 11, 2026: Norah O’Donnell – We the Women (evening event) - Wilmette, IL
Mar 15, 2026: Detroit Public Library presents: Author Talk: Black Business in Detroit with Dr. Kendra Boyd - Detroit, MI
Mar 18, 2026: Dorianne Laux: Delbrook Visiting Writers Series - Indianapolis, IN
Mar 19, 2026: Aisha Sabatini Sloan Reading — Dreaming of Ramadi in Detroit - Minneapolis, MN
Mar 29, 2026: Chicago Humanities presents: An Evening with Senator Cory Booker - Chicago, IL
Apr 2, 2026: Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lectureship — John Green - Des Moines, IA
Apr 14, 2026: Roxane Gay Reading and Q&A - Ann Arbor, MI
Apr 16, 2026: An Evening with Robin Wall Kimmerer - Grand Rapids, MI
Romance
Mar 9, 2026: Romance Writers Mix & Mingle at The Well Red Damsel - Wauwatosa, WI
Mar 9, 2026: TLC- Book Signing with Blackhawks game! 2026 - Chicago, IL
Mar 10, 2026: Author Event: Brennon Lane - Bloomington, IN
Mar 11, 2026: TLC- Q&A and book signing with Jillian Meadows 2026 - Chicago, IL
Mar 11, 2026: Romance Panel Discussion: Under The Cover, Stories We're Falling For - Madison, WI
Mar 13, 2026: Sports Romance Convention - Bloomington, MN
Mar 14, 2026: Jillian Meadows with Lyla Sage - No Place Like You - St. Louis, MO
Mar 16, 2026: Elle Wright - The Ex Dilemma, Presented by Sidetrack Bookshop - Royal Oak, MI
Mar 18, 2026: No Place Like You with Jillian Meadows and Molly Harper - Grand Rapids, MI
Mar 21, 2026: Signing with Elle Kennedy and Karla Sorensen - Ann Arbor, MI
Apr 7, 2026: Claire Kingsley launches Captivation Creek - Minneapolis, MN
Apr 9, 2026: Romantasy Book Party with Author Kelly Andrew in Conversation with Don Martin - Evanston, IL
Speculative
Mar 9, 2026: Author Event with Christopher Buehlman & Catriona Ward - Downers Grove, IL
Mar 12, 2026: Jen Calonita Author Event - Bayside, WI
Mar 17, 2026: Book Launch: Annie Neugebauer - You Have to Let Them Bleed - Saint Paul, MN
Mar 18, 2026: Elle Cosimano in conversation with Hannah Morrissey - Milwaukee, WI
Mar 21, 2026: CORPSE TOUR 2026 James Tynion and Corpse Crew Event - Ann Arbor, MI
Mar 25, 2026: Ohio University Spring Literary Festival: Jeff VanderMeer - Athens, OH
Mar 27, 2026: Planet Comicon - Kansas City, MO
Mar 29, 2026: Author Event: Ava Morgyn - Bloomington, IN
Apr 1, 2026: Book release party! Ilona Andrews’s This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - St. Paul, MN
Apr 1, 2026: Lauren Haldeman in conversation with Carmen Maria Machado - Iowa City, IA
Apr 7, 2026: Author Event: Nnedi Okorafor - Madison, WI
Apr 8, 2026: Book release party! Gabi Burton’s To Steal a Throne - Minneapolis, MN
Festivals, Fairs & Crawls
Mar 10, 2026: Get Lit: Grown-Up Book Fair - Chicago, IL
Mar 12, 2026: Illinois Reads Author Panels (IRC Conference) - Springfield, IL
Mar 13, 2026: Friends of PWPL Winter 2026 Used Book & Media Sale - Marquette, MI
Mar 15, 2026: Morgenstern Books presents Local Author Book Fair - Bloomington, IN
Mar 19, 2026: Indy Indie Book Crawl - Indianapolis, IN
Mar 21, 2026: St. Joe County Public Library BookCon - South Bend, IN
Mar 22, 2026: West Bloomfield Public Library Local Author Fair - West Bloomfield Township, MI
Mar 27, 2026: C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo) - Chicago, IL
Apr 11, 2026: Midwest Mystery Conference 2026 - Chicago, IL
Apr 18, 2026: Unbound Book Festival - Columbia, MO
Apr 18, 2026: Rewind Book Fair - St. Paul, MN
Apr 25, 2026: Columbus Indie Bookstore Crawl - Columbus, OH
Literary Conversations
Mar 9, 2026: Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney in conversation with Leah Stewart discussing Lake Effect - Cincinnati, OH
Mar 10, 2026: Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney & Shelby Van Pelt – Lake Effect - Naperville, IL
Mar 11, 2026: The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters: An Evening with Manuel Iris - Cincinnati, OH
Mar 11, 2026: Kelly Writers Series — Deborah Jackson Taffa Reading - Greencastle, IN
Mar 12, 2026: Poetry & Poetics Reading by Urayoán Noel - Evanston, IL
Mar 12, 2026: Meg Bortin in conversation with Patrick McGilligan - Milwaukee, WI
Mar 18, 2026: Raghav Rao in conversation with Jill Ridell - Chicago, IL
Mar 23, 2026: Observable Readings: Gabrielle Calvocoressi & Claude Canese Jarboe - St. Louis, MO
Apr 2, 2026: Maggie Smith Launches New Poetry Collection in Conversation with Marcus Jackson - Bexley, OH
Apr 9, 2026: Writers on Writing: Jennifer Egan and Michael Zapata - Chicago, IL
Apr 14, 2026: Attica Locke & Celeste Ng Conversation - Minneapolis, MN
Apr 16, 2026: An Evening with Patrick Radden Keefe & Gillian Flynn - Chicago, IL
Worth the Detour
Mar 12, 2026: The Hudson Library & Historical Society welcomes Olympic Gold Medalist Carli Lloyd - Hudson, OH
Mar 14, 2026: Author Talk - Rated-M Wrote It (Author of The Book of Ayesha) - Detroit, MI
Mar 14, 2026: HerStory Book Fair at Midtown Global Market - Minneapolis, MN
Mar 17, 2026: Elle Kennedy Love Song Authorless Karaoke Release Party - Milwaukee, WI
Mar 20, 2026: Destination Book Clubs at Garden Grove Inn - Union Pier, MI
Mar 21, 2026: Third Coast Author & Book Festival - Grand Haven, MI
Mar 22, 2026: Fairy Tales! Adult Book Fair at Broad Leaf Brewery - Kentwood, MI
Mar 24, 2026: A Night with Bassist Melissa Auf der Maur - Chicago, IL
Apr 6, 2026: A Ticketed Event with Imani Perry, author of Black in Blues - Milwaukee, WI
Apr 11, 2026: Chicago Humanities presents R.F. Kuang in Conversation - Chicago, IL
Apr 18, 2026: Midwest Literary Walk - Chelsea, MI
Apr 18, 2026: An Evening with Rainbow Rowell - Omaha, N
Know a great literary event we should include?
Reply and tell us.