UW offers free session with humor writer

About 250 writers from around the central U.S. have already registered for the pop­u­lar 23rd annual Writ­ers’ Insti­tute coordinated by UW–Madison Con­tin­u­ing Stud­ies that will meet in Madison from April 13–15.

But the pub­lic can get a taste of the professional advice offered at Writ­ers’ Insti­tute at a free evening session set for Fri­day, April 13 at 8 p.m. at Low­ell Cen­ter, 610 Lang­don St.

Keynote speaker John Vorhaus, the author of five nov­els (includ­ing his newest, “Lucy in the Sky,” which is set in Madi­son and Mil­wau­kee) will talk about “How to Use Humor When You Don’t Think You’re Funny.” He said he’ll address how any­one can improve their lives by using humor whether at a sin­gles bar, on the job, or while writ­ing a book.

Known for his exper­tise in pen­ning humor, Vorhaus has authored two how-to books: “The Comic Tool­box” and “Cre­ativ­ity Rules,” which are con­sid­ered bibles of the genre.

In addi­tion, his lat­est poker book, “Decide to Play Great Poker,” (co-authored with Annie Duke) is con­sis­tently the top-selling poker book on Ama­zon.

Vorhaus also trav­els the world, train­ing tele­vi­sion writ­ers and cre­at­ing tele­vi­sion shows in places like the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

He is a for­mer scriptwriter for sev­eral suc­cess­ful U.S. TV pro­grams, includ­ing “Charles in Charge” and “Head of the Class.”

For information call 265-3972, email lscheer@dcs.wisc.edu