You’re planning to attend the Tucson Festival of Books and are excited to see “Ed Asner: The Grouchy Historian” and “The Women Who Shaped Donald Trump.”
You see on the schedule that these are ticketed events. How much is that going to cost?
Ticketed events are free. Some of the more popular events are ticketed so you don’t have to wait in line for an hour or more to be sure you get in.
There are six venues at the festival for which tickets are offered in advance. They are:
- Student Union North Ballroom (seats 900)
- Student Union Gallagher Theater (seats 340)
- Koffler Room 204 (seats 304)
- Modern Languages Room 350 (seats 318)
- Integrated Learning Center Room 120 (seats 300)
- Social Sciences Auditorium (seats 500) — this venue has only two events: 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2.
Friends of the Festival donors at the $125 level or higher have had opportunities already to get tickets. But the festival committee has made sure no one can corral all the tickets, so even if you aren’t a Friend of the Festival, you should be able to get tickets to the presentation you most want to see. Tickets are available online only.
Beginning at noon on Monday, Feb. 25, you may go online at tucsonfestivalofbooks.org, click on the link for free tickets, choose the event you want to see more than any other and click the event title. Fill out and submit the reservation form.
You may get two tickets to any ticketed event — or one ticket to each of two events — between noon Monday and noon Tuesday.
Beginning at noon Tuesday, you may get two more tickets to ticketed events. If you didn’t get tickets between noon Monday and noon Tuesday, you may get four tickets beginning at noon Tuesday. However, you may get a maximum of two tickets per program.
At noon Wednesday, you may get two more, and two more again beginning at noon Thursday. Ticket “sales” close at noon Friday, March 1.
Plan ahead. Because some venues may “sell” out, it is wise to choose the one you most want to attend on Monday.
Once you complete the reservation form, you should receive a confirmation email within 24 hours with the electronic tickets. If you don’t get it, check your spam folder. Save the tickets to your smartphone for entry to the program or print them.
If you lose the email, don’t worry. There will be volunteers outside the venue who can help as long as you completed and submitted the reservation form.
If you get to the festival and realize you want to see a ticketed event that you failed to notice earlier, rest easy. A percentage of seats are held for those who missed the opportunity to get tickets.
If you find you won’t be using your tickets, you may give them away, but selling them is prohibited.
