Literacy efforts in Tucson got a $195,000 boost Sunday afternoon.
The Tucson Festival of Books presented the proceeds from the 2016 event and also announced new presenting sponsor — Tucson Medical Center — at the festival’s prologue event, a sneak peek at the festival’s 2017 literary lineup, at the University of Arizona BookStores at the Student Union Memorial Center.
Entering its ninth year, the festival is a two-day celebration of books and reading that fills the UA Mall and adjacent buildings with author presentations, workshops, demonstrations, hands-on activities and vendors. The 2017 festival is Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12.
The nonprofit festival donates 100 percent of its net proceeds to literacy advocacy programs, explained Brenda Viner, a festival founder, during the presentation.
The proceeds will be divided among Literacy Connects, Reading Seed and the UA Literacy Outreach Programs. The festival has awarded $1,455,000 to literacy promotion since 2009. Last year the festival awarded $210,000.
In addition, Bruce Beach, another festival founder, announced that Tucson Medical has agreed to be a three-year presenting sponsor. Sponsors help cover much of the free-to-attend festival’s expenses.
“Literacy is a key factor for an individual’s lifelong health and wellness, both economic and physical,” said Julia Strange, Tucson Medical Center’s vice president, community benefit.
“The Tucson Festival of Books celebrates reading and supports literacy, and as Tucson’s community hospital we are pleased to support the festival’s mission,” Strange said.
Festival volunteers shared a handful of the 300-plus authors coming to the festival, a combination of established and emerging authors that includes National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winners.
“The author lineup is robust,” said Helene Woodhams, co-chair of the festival’s literary committee.
“There’s something for everyone. There’s a lot for everyone.”
Among the authors that got oohs and aahs from the approximately 200 people attending the prologue:
- T.C. Boyle will be at the festival for the second time. His new humor-laced novel, “The Terranauts,” is set north of Tucson and features scientists in a Biosphere II-like dome and the resultant relationship stew.
- Maureen Dowd, the smart, flip New York Times columnist, will be at the festival with her new book “The Year of Voting Dangerously: The Derangement of American Politics.”
- Nathalia Holt is the author of “Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars,” the often overlooked, quick-thinking mathematician women in the early days of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Presentations on Pearl Harbor, a panel of the late Jim Harrison’s author pals who will discuss his contributions, and a salute to the National Book Awards are also being planned.
The festival’s website, tucsonfestivalofbooks.org, will have the list of authors available Monday, Dec. 12. The schedule of presentation, workshops and events will be available in mid-January, said Marcy Euler, the festival’s executive director.
