Meet your favorite author, participate in a book launch, go to the Character Breakfast, stop by the literary circus, visit the Tree Ring Lab, enjoy the Arroyo Café Old Pueblo live radio broadcast, wander over to Western National Parks, have a Beyond Bread sandwich, bask in 70-degree temperatures and meet 130,000 of your closest friends on the UA Mall.
The activities, exhibitors, authors and diversity at the Tucson Festival of Books are second to none. The festival volunteers have done an incredible job in putting everything in place for this year’s event.
There will be panel discussions, workshops, storytelling and culinary demonstrations at 35 different venues. It’s fantastic: Every genre, from current events to sports to children to mystery, will be represented. Meet Juan Felipe Herrera, the U.S. poet laureate. There will be special events on LGBTQ and WWII topics, including the national anthem each morning at 9:15 at the USS Arizona Memorial.
The Arizona Daily Star Tent and UA Mall Tent have outstanding lineups. Foodies, check out the Monark/Sub Zero/Wolf Culinary Experience. C-SPAN will be broadcasting 10 author sessions live on BookTV from the Gallagher Theater.
Who’s new: Maureen Dowd, Colson Whitehead, Michael Tolkin, James Dashner, Dava Sobel, Ibram X. Kendi, Sam Polk, Charles Johnson, Julissa Arce, Álvaro Enrique, Julian Guthrie, William Finnegan, Evan Thomas, Ron Fournier, Lillian Faderman, Brunonia Barry, Joe Conason and Andrés Reséndez.
Who’s back: John Sandford, T.C. Boyle, Lisa See, David Maraniss, J.A. Jance, Luis Urrea, T. Jefferson Parker, Alice Hoffman, John Nichols, Grace Lin, Douglas Brinkley, Cara Black, Thomas Perry, Christina Baker Kline, Craig Johnson, Maggie Stiefvater and Andrew Gross.
Create your author schedule: Pull out the author/children/science schedules in this guide, go to the festival website, tucsonfestivalofbooks.org, or download our app and review the subjects and authors. Create and save your own schedule.
Highlight your first, second and third choices in each time slot. Mix and match subjects, genres, solo presentations, panels and workshops. Go to at least one panel each day where you like the subject, but know nothing about the authors. Don’t forget the young-adult or children’s authors — they are some of the best presenters. Stroll the mall, do a crossword puzzle, visit the exhibitors, enjoy some music, check out Science City and the new Teen Plaza.
As Mark Twain said: “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: This is the ideal life.”
