Laurel Yourke, of the UW-Madison Department of Liberal Studies and the Arts, is the author of "Waiting for Beethoven" (a poetry collection) and "Take Your Characters to Dinner: Creating the Illusion of Reality in Fiction." She has received the UW-Madison Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Council of Wisconsin Writers Award for Encouragement of Wisconsin Writers. An associate director of Writer's Institute, she has taught literature and creative writing in ongoing intermediate and advanced writing workshops, School of the Arts at Rhinelander, Write by the Lake, public school and college classrooms, Distance Education courses, Elderhostel, College Week for Kids, Senior Academy, Arts Week and interactive television. She has published reviews, feature articles and print- and web-based course materials on fiction, poetry, composition, literature, and advanced creative writing. Her poetry has appeared in various university presses and other periodicals including "Wisconsin Academy Review," "The Larcom Review," "The Wisconsin Fellowship Poets Calendar" and twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.Contact Laurel by e-mail at lyourke@dcs.wisc.edu.