LOCAL AUTHORS DISCUSS: Writing Family Stories

Write On’s Door County Published Authors Collective (DCPAC) presents the on-going series, Local Authors Discuss, in which writers address a specific genre or theme. Today’s program focuses on writing family stories through different genres. Novelist Janis Falk, nonfiction writer Corey Geiger, and poet Estella Lauter will share how they incorporate family stories in their various genres. The program is free and open to all ages. No registration is required. Light refreshments will be available.

NOTE: Due to Pumpkin Patch in Egg Harbor, those coming from the south may face detours. We recommend taking County Road A to Juddville Road or taking Highway 57 to County Road EE to Quarterline Road to Juddville Road.

Janis Falk is the author of Not Yet Lost, published in September 2025. The novel is based on family stories about the labor movement in 1937 Detroit. Writing is a second act for Janis. In her first, she raised her family, pursued a business career, lived large and wide, and now has something to write about. When not writing, Janis can be found kayaking the Great Lakes or pruning lavender plants on her organic farm. She lives with her husband, Jim Bator, in Fish Creek in a home they built by combining two 150-year-old log cabins.

A six-generation farmer, Corey Geiger is the author of two award-winning books, On a Wisconsin Family Farm: Historic Tales of Character, Community, and Culture and The Wisconsin Farm They Built: Tales of Family and Fortitude, that together have sold in all 50 U.S. states. The Wisconsin Farm They Built was a finalist in Regional Nonfiction in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. In his full-time job, Geiger serves as the Lead Dairy Economist for CoBank, one of the largest providers of credit to the dairy industry.

Estella Lauter is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently On the Brink: Poetry and Politics published in 2025. Her collection, You Never Said; We Didn’t Ask is based on her father-in-law’s experience in World War I. She served as Door County Poet Laureate for 2013-2015, during which time she formed the Door County Poets Collective to publish two anthologies of poetry about the county, Soundings (2015) and Halfway to the North Pole (2020).