Crossroads of Ideas: Comparing the Creative Process in Science and Art

There is more overlap between scientific research and creative writing than you may think! Both involve a process of research, creative thought and storytelling, and in this panel we will discuss what these disciplines have in common and what each can take from the other. Acclaimed novelist Chloe Benjamin (THE IMMORTALISTS) uses science to inform her fiction, while data scientist and statistician Claudia Solis-Lemus writes fiction and memoir when she isn’t researching evolutionary biology and microbiome. Moderated by novelist and WID writer in residence Michelle Wildgen.

Michelle Wildgen is the author of four novels, most recently WINE PEOPLE, published in August. Her first novel, YOU’RE NOT YOU, was an NYT Editor’s Choice and was adapted into a film starring Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum. She is currently a writer in residence at WID, and co-founded the Madison Writer’s Studio with novelist Susanna Daniel in 2013. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Modern Love column and Book Review, O Magazine, Best Food Writing and elsewhere.

Claudia Solis-Lemus is an assistant professor at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Mexico City, Claudia completed undergraduate degrees in actuarial sciences and applied mathematics at ITAM. She also received an MA in mathematics and a Ph.D. in statistics at UW-Madison.

Chloe Benjamin is an award-winning author originally from San Francisco, CA, Chloe is a graduate of Vassar College and the M.F.A. in fiction at the University of Wisconsin. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages. A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, LibraryReads favorite, and #1 Indie Next pick, The Immortalists was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and others. The Anatomy of Dreams received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award and was long listed for the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

This event will be held at Madison Central Library, Community Room 302, in partnership with Wisconsin Book Festival.

Registration is requested as space is limited. Register now >