Tucson Festival of Books
The early bird gets the bookworm. Or at least they will if they arrive early to the Third Annual Tucson Festival of Books.
Whether you are searching for a colorful and playful book for your child, looking for a suspenseful mystery novel for yourself, or planning on a attending a few of the panels or writers workshops, there will be something available for you at the Tucson Festival of Books.
The festival will be held at the University of Arizona campus this weekend on Saturday March 13-14.
The original Festival of Books debuted two years ago where 450 authors and about 50,000 visitors came to the UA campus to partake in the literary festivities according to Co-Founder and President Bill Viner.
In the two years since then, the event has been steadily growing.
Viner and other organization founders; Frank Farias, John M. Humenik, Bruce Beach, and Brenda Viner have created a festival that has been such a success that it is now the largest event of its kind in Arizona as well as the 4th largest book festival in the United States.
Viner said that the idea for the festival formed after he and his wife attended the LA Times festival of Books and with help from both the UA and the Arizona Daily Star were able to put this festival together here in Tucson.
This year's event will include 65 writer workshops, 260 author sessions, over 400 authors, and 240 exhibitors.
Authors can be found for dozens of genres including children, culinary, poetry, romance, and science.
Mainstream and Contemporary author Laura Fitzgerald, has worked with the festival all three years. She has been involved as a panelist, moderator, and part of the author invitation committee.
"We look at who are the New York Times bestselling authors and which books people are reading the most," said Fitzgerald.
One of her favorite aspects of the festival is not only showing off Tucson to visiting authors but meeting them as well.
"We work alone 95 percent of the time," said Fitzgerald, "It is not very social and so to get with other people that do what you do on a daily basis is very rare and really fun," she added.
There will also be featured workshops for writers with directions from authors such as Debra Thompson-Greif and Luis Alberto Urrea.
Entertainment will be performing to appeal to all audience types. Some of the entertainment lineup includes: Gertie & the TO Boys (Native American Waila), Capoeira Mandinga Dance group, Wedgie (local teen rock band), Ocotillo Poetry Slam Artists, Teller of Tales, ZUZI Dance, Del Pueblo Brass Quintet, Sentido.
Three of countless booths will be occupied by the University's own UA press said Press Publicity manager Holly Schaffer. They will be having author signings throughout the 2-day span from over two-dozen authors.
For a list of UA press authors visit the following link
www.uapress.arizona.edu/news/TFOB_UAP_Schedule.pdf
For those that develop a hunger during all this excitement, there will be a variety of fresh food to please your palette. Vendors including Beyond Bread, Choice Greens, Zivaz, Brush Fire BBQ and Create Café will be offering food.
Other snacks include Frost Gelato, kettle corn, and even Sonoran style hotdogs.
The event begins at 9:30am and runs until 5:30 pm. Free.
For more information, visit TucsonFestivalofBooks.org or call 891-9681.
