Sen. Bernie Sanders will be at this year's Tucson Festival of Books.

 J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will take part in the upcoming Tucson Festival of Books, the festival announced Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Sanders and co-author John Nichols will be in Tucson to discuss his book “It’s OK to be Angry About Capitalism,” which was released Tuesday by Crown Publishing.

Their session is scheduled for Sunday, March 5, beginning at 4 p.m. in the University of Arizona’s Student Union Ballroom.

Sanders, 81, was elected to the Senate by Vermont in 2006. This followed three terms in the House of Representatives and, before that, three terms as the mayor of Burlington.

A political progressive, he has served as an independent most of his career.

In 2016, however, he challenged Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries for president. Although Clinton prevailed, the primary campaign roiled the party and may have cost her the presidency.

Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. Senate history and now plays what could become a career-defining role. He chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. As chair, Sanders will oversee a number of major new initiatives, many addressing the future of American health care.

In the book, Sanders and Nichols explore the control modern capitalism now exerts over every aspect of American life.

This will be Sanders’ first visit to the Tucson Festival of Books. It will be Nichols’ eighth.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the Tucson Festival of Books shared that music legend Linda Ronstadt would also be making an appearance, on the same day — March 5.

Ronstadt, who grew up in Tucson, and co-author Lawrence Downes will discuss her recently published memoir: “Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands.”

They will be among the 300 authors who will appear in 300 presentations March 4 and 5. To see the festival’s full list of authors, visit tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.

American politics could be dominated by an “Independent” party if there were to be one. Veuer’s Maria Mercedes Galuppo has the story.

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