Tucson Festival of Books

If you’re anywhere near the Southwest this weekend, bolt on over to Tucson for the second annual Tucson Festival of Books at the University of Arizona to bask in literary glory. Last year’s fest featured 450 authors, gathered 50,000 readers, raised $200,000 for literacy, and landed in the nation’s Top 10 Book Festivals. In addition to panels, readings, and performances, the 2010 festival will offer workshops on every imaginable craft and topic, from “How to Write a Corrido” to “Cooking with Native Seeds.” I’m especially excited about watching my friend Tom Miller, author of a score of books including Trading with the Enemy: A Yankee Travels through Castro’s Cuba, interview my all-time hero, Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Devil’s Highway and Hummingbird’s Daughter. Urrea can swell my eyes in sorrow and joy on a single page, and he is equally potent onstage. Their talk is from 11:30 – 12:30 on Saturday in the Student Union Gallagher Theater, followed by a discussion of la frontera with Miller, Margaret Regan, Philip Caputo, and David Danelo from 1 – 2. I hope to catch both before trotting over to Integrated Learning Center, Room 140, for my own gig with Gustavo (Ask a Mexican!) Arellano and Rose Castillo Guilbault from 2:30 – 3:30. Sunday’s highlight seems to be the 11:30 – 12:30 chat with Texas legend Larry McMurtry and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diana Ossana at the Student Union Ballroom South. I’ll also try to make the Chicano GLBT reading by Felicia Luna Lemus,
Rigoberto González, and Manuel Muñoz from 10 – 11 at Integrated Learning Center, Room 120. Hope to see y’all there!

Comments

  1. looking forward to meeting you later today, Stephanie……..
    Sue Myal

  2. Finally…. we get to meet face to face. We enjoyed your panel discussion…….you bring performance art to a new level!
    Great to see and talk with you in Tucson. I’m starting your new
    book tonight. Hope to see YOU again SOON! Sue Myal

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