MINERAL POINT, Wis. — The Midwest Independent Publishers Association has awarded former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Tom Loftusa Silver Medal in its 2025 Midwest Book Awards in Autobiography/Memoir for his Little Creek Press book, “Mission to Oslo: Dancing with the Queen, Dealmaking with the Russians, Shaping History!” Told with wit and wry humor, Loftus’s poignant and entertaining tale of the true and historic adventures he had as U.S. Ambassador to Norway during the Clinton Administration in the mid-1990s.
The book also impressed judges at this summer’s national Independent Publishers Association Awards, who called the memoir “a fun, engaging, and enlightening read [and] a wonderful historical snapshot of the Clinton Era … [with] candid and fascinating detail, providing invaluable context on the role of this important office in the maintenance of world peace and economic prosperity.” Judges also added this unique review: “Do we judge books by their covers? You bet we do! This is a wonderful cover! It has all the elements a reader needs to decide if they want to buy it—just based on the front cover!”
This award-winning memoir recounts the wining, dining, and most importantly, negotiating Loftus did as ambassador during the heady days of NATO expansion, German reunification, and Russia democratization—a critical time in the 20th Century when Norway was hosting both the Oslo Accords and the Winter Olympics.
From hosting First Lady Hillary Clinton to sharing tea with Nelson Mandela, Loftus shares stories of the dignitaries and diplomats, food and entertainment, and yes, skiing in a memoir that former U.S. News and World Report journalist Peter Ross Range calls “a rollicking good journey and compelling tale of a fascinating career.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom Loftus served as U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway from 1993 through 1997. A member of the Wisconsin Legislature from 1977 to 1991, he was the longest-serving Democratic Speaker of the Assembly, from 1983 to 1991. In 1990, he was the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor. Tom was special advisor to the director general of the World Health Organization from 1998 to 2005. He was a member of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents from 2005 to 2011, and in 2020 and 2021 was senior policy advisor to the UW System president. Tom is on the board of the Outrider Foundation. A U.S. Army veteran, he is a UW Whitewater graduate and earned a master’s degree from UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. Loftus talks about some of his many accomplishments—including his memoir—in a recent Wisconsin Icons interview with Bob Dolan of Dolan Productions.
FIND THE BOOK: “Mission to Oslo” is available at your favorite library, bookstore, or www.littlecreekpress.com. It is one of many books by Wisconsin authors published by Little Creek Press, Mineral Point, Wis., including another Midwest Book Awards medalist, “Great Nature Wisconsin”. For more information and interviews, contact Kristin Gilpatrick at kristing@littlecreekpress.com.
