MILWAUKEE — In a “love letter” from Milwaukee to romance readers and authors, local businesses are banding together to create a romance book weekend from Sept. 4 to 6.
What You Need To Know
- Dozens of businesses in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa are set to host more than 65 romance authors and bookish vendors throughout “From Milwaukee With Love,” a three-day event. Natasha Meyer, the owner of Wauwatosa’s all-romance bookstore The Well Red Damsel, is the brains behind this work of love
- Thursday, Friday and Saturday feature an array of programming in the area, including panels, craft nights and workshops
- On Saturday, the final day of “From Milwaukee With Love,” romance readers will have the chance to attend a book crawl that spans over 16 blocks on North Avenue in Wauwatosa. Bookended by Thirst Books — another all-romance bookstore — and the Wauwatosa Public Library, readers can check out 22 different local businesses, where they can meet their favorite authors or discover a potential new read
- There will also be bookish vendors scattered throughout the crawl, which is completely free
Dozens of businesses in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa are set to host more than 65 romance authors and bookish vendors throughout “From Milwaukee With Love,” a three-day event.
(Studio 29 Photography/Ren Lenhof)
On Thursday, romance readers can head to a “meet cute mixer” and crafting event at The Ivy House, or they can sit in on a Q+A session with author Melissa Grace at The Well Red Damsel or a two-author romance panel at Boswell Book Company featuring Adib Khorram and Julian Winters.
Friday features an array of author panels at the Milwaukee Public Library East Branch. That night, attendees can head to Pearl and Cade for an author Q+A, signing and mixer, or visit the Racine Public Library for writing workshops led by bestselling romance authors, a panel discussion, Q+A session, book signings and a dinner.
On Saturday, the final day of “From Milwaukee With Love,” romance readers will have the chance to attend a book crawl that spans over 16 blocks on North Avenue in Wauwatosa. Bookended by Thirst Books — another all-romance bookstore — and the Wauwatosa Public Library, readers can check out 22 different local businesses, where they can meet their favorite authors or discover a potential new read. There will also be bookish vendors scattered throughout the crawl, which is completely free.
The weekend is capped by three evening events Saturday, including a silent book club, a drag queen book bingo and a crash course in writing steamy literature.
Some of the events are ticketed due to space restrictions; many are free to attend.
While a mega-event like this would normally take months, if not over a year, of planning, Meyer put it together in a matter of weeks.
(Studio 29 Photography/Ren Lenhof)
Meyer said she wanted to support romance authors and bookish vendors after well over 200 authors pulled out of Romance Con, a romance book convention happening in Milwaukee the same weekend — hence the quick turnaround.
While Meyer specified that “From Milwaukee With Love” is not an anti-con. She said she doesn’t want anyone who does attend to be villainized for doing so. Tickets for the convention — which run up to $375 per person — are nonrefundable, and she said she understood why some people are choosing to go and try to make the most of it.
The vast majority of authors dropped out of Romance Con after Mischief Management — the convention company that runs it, which also runs EnchatiCon — was criticized for having Harry Potter-related programming at that convention.
Romance Con was originally going to host author Julie Soto, who, according to NPR, reworked her latest novel “Rose in Chains” from a fan fiction based in the Harry Potter universe. Attendees and authors took to social media to voice concerns over if the convention would be a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. Romance Con and Soto “mutually agreed” she would not attend the convention after the backlash.
Romance Con is no longer listed on its website at one of the conventions Mischief Management runs. It was not immediately clear if the two were still affiliated with one another.
Romance Con did not respond to interview requests from Spectrum News 1. It posted this statement to Instagram:
(Studio 29 Photography/Ren Lenhof)
Meyer shared that The Well Red Damsel was one of the vendors and sponsors that pulled out of the convention, without citing her own specific reasons for doing so. She said she knew firsthand how much money goes into appearing at a convention like this. That money was lost for many of these authors and vendors.
She saw an opportunity to help.
“For a variety of reasons many authors and readers quickly felt that it was no longer a safe space for them to go. In the time when this is all kind of unfolding on social media, I had like 100-plus authors reach out,” Meyer said.
Those authors told Meyer they still had plans to go to Milwaukee, even though they would not be at the convention. They wanted to pop up in her store.
“As you can imagine, my little store can fit like five authors at most at a time. For two days, there’s just no way I can fit that many people,” she said.
Meyer said she started to panic. How would she be able to help all of these authors at once, at the same time.
“There’s a lot of money that goes into this, in hopes that they can at least make their money back, while also, obviously, meeting new readers,” Meyer explained. “Trying to figure out, ‘How do we help as many as we can?’ Knowing that we don’t have a lot of time and we don’t have a lot of resources.”
She turned to her neighbors.
The Well Red Damsel is located in East Tosa, which is bursting with other local businesses. She was hopeful they could assist.
Plus, she wanted to make the event accessible to readers. By having all the authors in one area, readers wouldn’t have to rent cars to meet writers they were hoping to see.
Overnight, over a dozen other businesses got back to her, telling Meyer they would love to help.
(Studio 29 Photography/Ren Lenhof)
During the crawl, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., readers can check in at one of two locations. Then, they’ll get a map with all the participating businesses, authors and vendors and their locations.
Readers can walk or drive to as many of the spots they’d like. The crawl is free to attend. Authors will sign books that readers bring, and many will also sell copies of their books on site. There will also be a crawl “passport.” Those who visit all the stops can enter giveaways.
“I hope [readers] are able to have a free day that’s still really fun and can still make this weekend feel like the magical bookish weekend a lot of people were hoping it to be,” Meyer said.
“Hopefully, it’s a way for them to enjoy Milwaukee, and enjoy romance books, romance authors and get to meet some of their favorite authors or potentially some of their new favorite authors.”
It’s a love letter to readers, in a way. And they have loved Meyer and her store right back.
Meyer said the reception has been “amazing” from both authors and readers. People are turning this weekend into a chance to explore Milwaukee and what it has to offer.
“Our neighborhood, too, is really excited about it. I think all of the business owners, they aren’t in the book world, so I don’t think they understood what all of this was and how big of a deal this was, and now that they’re starting to understand it, they’re so incredibly pumped to be a part of it,” she shared.
Meyer said she’s not sure what the future of “From Milwaukee With Love” will look like. Meyer wanted to keep costs low for everyone. That was only made possible because of small businesses and libraries that donated their spaces. They’re not making money off the event.
“It’ll be interesting to see what it could become, but I think I want the heart of it to always be, ‘this is a love letter for authors and readers,’ and not necessarily a traditional convention that has to make money in order to pay for everything. So I guess we’ll see; we’ll see how it goes,” Meyer said.
Learn more about the bookish weekend, here.