Derleth Day 2017

August Derleth, born and educated in Sauk City, is a regional writer who taught at UW-Madison, was an editor and publisher and wrote about the Sac Prairie area, its history and residents. He is Wisconsin’s most prolific writer, publishing 150 books and received the Guggenheim award.

He also collected cartoons, records from Bach to boogie and books about all sorts of topics. He was a naturalist, political activist, and he created Arkham House to publish the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. His close friends were Hugo Schwenker, Karl Ganzlin, Chuck Ritchie, Paul Meyer and several others. They’d gather at Hugo’s shop to swap news of the day, talk about national politics and enjoy some music.

From his hunting, fishing and hiking adventures with Hugo, Derleth accumulated enough material for his Steve and Sims Children’s series. From the history of the area, he wrote Walden West, Return to Walden West and several other books featuring local history.

He chose to stay here. This was his Walden West. He purchased the old Herman Lueders 10-acre homestead from Augusta and Carlotta Lueders for $1,000 and this is where he had Place of Hawks built, his home. He is buried in the St. Aloysius Cemetery.