Book Talk by Martha Bergland

On Saturday July 20 2024, at 1 p.m. in Bishop Hill IL, listen to author Martha Bergland talk about her latest book, The Birdman of Koshkonong:  The Life of Naturalist Thure Kumlien.  Thure Kumlien was one of Wisconsin’s earliest Swedish settlers and an accomplished ornithologist, botanist, and naturalist in the mid-1800s. He settled on the shore of Lake Koshkonong in 1843 and soon began sending bird specimens to museums and collectors in Europe and the eastern United States, including the Smithsonian.

Martha Bergland is the author of many poems, essays, and short stories, as well as two novels–A Farm Under A Lake and Idle Curiosity published by Graywolf Press.  Her latest book, The Birdman of Koshkonong: The Life of Naturalist Thure Kumlien, was awarded the Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award for Best Work of Nonfiction and The Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators Book of Merit Award. Birdman also received the Independent Publishers Silver Medal for Biography and Gold Medal for Overall Book Design.

This free one-hour book talk and book signing will be at the Steeple Building Museum, located at 103 North Bishop Hill Street in historic Bishop Hill, IL.  Email the Bishop Hill Heritage Association at bhha@mymctc.net or call 309 927-3899 for more information.