Someday, perhaps, someone with a big wallet, a library card and drawerful of bookmarks will open a Hall of Fame of Local Literature — a place honoring authors who have called Tucson home.
Our neighbors have included Richard Russo, Larry McMurtry, Andrew Greeley and Barbara Kingsolver.
David Foster Wallace is on the list. So is Alberto Rios. National Book Award finalists Joy Williams and Lydia Millet have local Zip Codes even today.
It’s a remarkable lineup for a place that still calls itself “The Pueblo,” but the first member of a Tucson Hall of Fame might not be any of them.
It might be Meg Files.
Meg’s isn’t a household name for all of Tucson’s readers, but Tucson’s writers know her well. From 1987 to 2017, she taught English at Pima College. For 28 of those years she staged the Pima Writers’ Workshop every Memorial Day Weekend. In addition to working with some 5,000 writers, she recruited more than 300 authors to her weekend faculty, including McMurtry, Kingsolver and Millet.
You would be hard-pressed to find a local author who doesn’t sing her praises, and even in her so-called “retirement” Files is still very much at it.
She is the director of the writing contest and masters workshop sponsored by the Tucson Festival of Books. She also writes books, offers writing courses through the Learning Curve, and stays in regular contact with dozens of published authors who still come to her for … well, anything.
Tucson poet Estella Gonzalez, whose collection “Chola Salvation” was published by Arte Publico last spring, calls Files her “writing godmother.”
“Meg’s generosity with her time, advice and kindness has nourished a whole generation of Tucson writers,” said Estella Gonzales, who was one of them. “She is truly a writing godmother to all of us.”
Alice Ritscherle, who writes as Alice Hatcher, received national notice for her debut novel “The Wonder That Was Ours” in 2018.
“At age 40, when I was starting to write fiction for the first time, Meg convinced me I had a seat at the writers’ table,” Ritscherle said. “Then she encouraged me and pushed me until I got comfortable at the table. I’ll always owe a debt of gratitude to Meg Files.”
Then there’s Matt Mendez, author of “Twitching Heart” and “Barely Missing Everything.”
“Without Meg Files, I’m not sure I would have made my way as a writer,” Mendez said. “Her careful optimism and passion for story helped me learn how to walk the path I’m on now. A path we’re on together.”
Make no mistake. Files herself is an author. She has published 10 books, most notably “Meridian 144” in 2014, but her love for writing is matched by her love for writers.
Files began offering workshops while at Colorado Mountain College in 1978. When she arrived at Pima, her department chair — having seen her resume — asked if she would like to run a workshop here.
“He didn’t need to twist my arm,” Files said. “I’d organized dozens of writing conference and loved everything about them. As a teacher, I’ve always enjoyed helping people reach for their dreams. Especially when their dreams are the same as mine.”
The first Pima workshop took place in 1988 and included 40 students. It didn’t stay small very long. The four-day gathering quickly grew to 300 students and 12 faculty members, making it the largest writing conference in the Southwest.
Files retired from Pima in 2017, but she didn’t stop teaching. Or caring. Or helping writers find their way.
“It feels like I’m busier than ever,” she confessed, and it may be true. Especially now.
It is crunch time in the tenth annual Literary Awards Writing Competition offered by he Tucson Festival of Books. The submission deadline is next Sunday. Files expects to receive about 500 entries, and she will read every one.
“I say this every year, but every year I’m more and more amazed by the quality of writing we receive,” she said. “People ask me how I manage to read them all. Honestly, I want to read them all!”
Files has recruited a number of local authors and writing instructors to review the submissions and select finalists. She will ask five festival authors to choose the winners.
Competition is held in poetry, nonfiction and fiction. Winners in each division receive $1,000, with $500 going to second-place entries and $250 given for third. Winning a top prize can make a young writer’s career, and Files takes it seriously.
How much does she care? Each year the festival receives a handful of submissions from prisoners and others who can’t afford the $20 fee to enter. Files persuades colleagues and personal friends to donate the fee on those writers’ behalf.
Winners will be announced before Christmas, but don’t expect Files to spend much time with her feet up. Her attention will quickly turn to another pet project, the festival’s Masters Writing Workshop. Now one of the West’s most prestigious workshops, it is an invitation-only gathering of 50 students who score well in the contest.
The book festival’s contest and workshop have launched the careers of several now-successful authors. One of them, Lynne Thompson, has become the poet laureate of Los Angeles.
Before the pandemic rocked finances at schools across the country, Pima College was weighing the possibility of naming a new wing at the West Campus the Meg Files Writing Center. Construction has since been delayed, but regardless of how that project evolves her legacy is secure.
It will live on at small desks and clicking keyboards for years to come in Tucson.
