Badger Talks Live | A Novel Pastime: The Coyotes of Carthage

Associate Professor of Law, Steven Wright, published his first novel, The Coyotes of Carthage, in April 2020. The novel received strong reviews from the Washington Post, Salon, and USA Today, which included Steven on its list of 100 Black Novelists You Should Read. About the novel, famed author John Grisham raved “….a splendid debut, Steven Wright announces his arrival as a major new voice in the world of political thrillers. I enjoyed it immensely.”

In the novel, Andre Ross, a 30-something black political consultant, is hired by a mining conglomerate to spend $250,000 to persuade the residents of Carthage, South Carolina, to support a ballot initiative that would threaten their economy and devastate their natural environment. The book explores the corrupting influence of dark money to influence local elections.

Steven will discuss the impetus behind the novel, its success, and his life pursuits, past and present. He teaches in both law and creative writing at UW-Madison. At the law school, he is an associate clinical professor in the Remington Center, a collection of clinics that provides students with the opportunities to represent men and women serving time in Wisconsin’s prison. Steve led the Wisconsin Innocence Project for five years, before starting the Constitutional Litigation, Appeals, and Sentencing Project earlier this year.