In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Lisa Malawski talks with local poet Shoshauna Shy.

Shoshauna Shy has been involved in local poetry and literary events for decades. She founded the Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf program in 2004, a project with the mission of placing poetry in public places where it isn't expected.

She's previously worked for the Wisconsin Humanities Council, where she helped create, coordinate and facilitate poetry programs for the Wisconsin Book Festival when it was just getting started.

Shoshauna and Lisa met at Sequoya Library, during the 2024 Wisconsin Poets' Calendar Reading. They extend their conversation into the studio for this show, where Shoshauna reads some of her poems, talks about her foray into flash fiction, and shares how her 2017 book The Splash of Easy Laughter came to be.