Get to know Michelle Wildgen

Michelle Wildgen's fourth novel will be published by Zibby Books in March 2023. Her previous books are You’re Not You, But Not For Long, and Bread and Butter, and the food writing anthology Food & Booze. A former executive editor with the award-winning literary journal Tin House, she is a freelance editor and creative writing teacher in Madison, Wis. Since 2013 she and novelist Susanna Daniel have run the Madison Writers’ Studio, offering a variety of creative writing workshops and classes.

Hometown

Pittsburgh

Fun fact

I can make my eyeballs shiver in a creepy way that my ophthalmologist friend tells me I should quit doing

Favorite author

Laurie Colwin in a footrace with Alice Munro

Favorite place in the world

Home, after I’ve been traveling

Favorite place to read

On a hammock in the backyard in the summertime.

Books by Michelle Wildgen

Wine People

Published August 01, 2023

An intoxicating escape into the cutthroat world of wine and the complicated terrain of women’s friendship.

What happens when two ambitious young women, opposite in every way, join forces in a competitive male-dominated industry?

Wren and Thessaly collide when they land coveted jobs at a glamorous New York City boutique wine importer. Hardworking, by-the-book Wren comes from a modest background and has everything to prove while Thessaly hails from a family of prestigious California growers—but she is plagued by self-doubt. Thrown together at work, where they're expected to have exquisite palates, endless tolerance for alcohol and socializing, and the ability to sell, sell, sell, they regard each other with suspicion.

It’s only on an important European business trip—with everything on the line for both of them—that they unexpectedly forge an alliance that will change the course of their careers and personal lives.

With mouth-watering descriptions of food and wine, Wine People takes readers from France, Germany, and Italy to the Midwest and Sonoma. An utterly entertaining page-turner that explores how close friends can both misjudge and uplift each other.

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Wine People

Michelle's Book Tour

Michelle WIldgen’s Wine People launches on August 1, 2023! What better way to celebrate than with WINE of course? Join us at Table Wine in Madison, Wisconsin with Susanna Daniel to celebrate Michelle’s launch!

Michelle's tour schedule