UA News

It was years in the making. The UA and Arizona Daily Star have partnered to host the Tucson Festival of Books, a 2-day event that brings to Tucson authors, publishing companies and enthusiasts from across the nation.

The Tucson Festival of Books founders hope the nation will eventually view Tucson not only as a literary hub, but also as a community of people who emphasize the love of reading and writing.

This month marks the inauguration of the festival, a major citywide celebration of literature to be held at The University of Arizona on Saturday and Sunday.

The festival will include workshops, lectures, demonstrations and various other presentations for people of all ages. Expected to draw 50,000 people, the festival is being pegged as the largest literary event to have been held in Arizona.

"It will become, during its first year, the largest book festival in the entire southwestern region," said Frank Farias, executive director of the UA BookStores.

Scheduled authors and speakers include Bill Odenkirk, Emmy-winning writer and co-executive producer for the Simpsons; nonfiction author Charles Bowden; best-selling author Stedman Graham, comic artist and writer Aline Kominsky Crumb.

The two-day event spawned from a collaboration between the UA BookStores, three UA alumni and the Arizona Daily Star.

The group's priorities were well-defined: They wanted to host a huge community event that would make publishing companies and prominent, award-winning authors and journalists accessible to the common person. And they wanted the festival to rival those currently held annually in cities like Los Angeles and in Austin.

Of course, the UA Poetry Center, UA BookStores along with various colleges, department and student organizations at the UA – and certainly others off campus – bring in high caliber authors and speakers. However, no centralized or concerted effort has been resulted in a citywide, annual event, Farias said.

What Tucson Gets, For Free

It would take significant amounts of money, strong networks and most definitely a plane ticket to access a good deal of what the UA and Arizona Daily Star are bringing to southern Arizona, Farias said.

The festival calendar is full of lectures, book signings, workshops, poetry readings, book reviews, panel discussions, book sales and other events with more than 400 local, regional and nationally-known writers.

"There are a lot of different literary campaigns and efforts in Tucson trying to promote the value of reading and trying to instill the importance of an education," Farias said. "We are trying to entice a level of interest and to show people they too can become authors."

The expansive list of events – which also include events for children and teenagers – covers genres that include fiction and nonfiction, poetry, comic books, short stories, travel, screen writing, memoirs, romance, science fiction, mystery, children's books and a host of other forms.

The festival will also feature more than 100 exhibitors: local and independent booksellers, museums, publishing companies and associations, nonprofit organizations, newspapers and UA departments and centers, among others.

Events for children and teenagers include theater productions, musical and performances, workshops that will teach ways to make books and origami and how to write poetry.

"We wanted to make sure that anybody that was interested in literature and literacy would be able to come and that there would be no barriers," said Bill Viner, Pepper Viner Homes president and one of the festival's founders.

"That's why we really worked with the University. It could not have happened in this fashion without them," Viner added. "We hope people understand this is really a festival in every sense of the word and that there is something for every member of the family - and you don't have to be an avid book reader to enjoy it."

Events include:

• Best-selling author Stedman Graham, Oprah Winfrey's significant other, will speak in the Social Sciences auditorium Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. Graham is the author of "Teens Can Make it Happen" and will talk about ways that teenagers can fulfill their "life's vision." The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Attendees are encouraged to reserve a seat on the UA BookStores Web site.
• "The God of Animals" author Aryn Kyle will speak and hold a book signing at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday at the UA BookStores, which is located at the Student Union Memorial Center, 1303 E. University Blvd.
• Alexandra Avakian, a National Geographic photojournalist who authored "Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World," will speak on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the UA BookStores.
• Michael Gates Gill, best-selling author of "How Starbucks Saved My Life," will speak on Sunday at 10 a.m. in the UA BookStores.
• Authors Brett Paesel and Lydia Millet will hold a joint panel discussion on the "Sources of Satire" at 11:30 a.m. in the UA BookStores on Sunday.
• The UA's Alumni Association is co-hosting an authors tent with the local Las Comadres Para Las Americas.
• Numerous authors will discuss and sign their work on Saturday and Sunday. Among the confirmed guests are J.A. Jance, Tom Miller, Aline Kominsky Crumb, a UA graduates.

Partners in Motion

The story about the origin of the Tucson Festival of Books will undoubtedly be remembered as a convergence of fates.

"As a businessman, I see the problems in our society with our workforce not being educated," said Bruce Beach, principal of Beach Fleischman & Co.

"We are always contributing money to try and treat what is happening in our society, but we're never going to solve the problem of illiteracy if we do not get to the root of it," Beach added. "So, we decided that we are going to get behind the cause."

In 2006, UA BookStores staff began colluding over the idea of planning a major book festival for Tucson, one that would rise of the ranks of book festivals currently held annually in major metropolitan cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Austin.

Meanwhile, Bill and Brenda Viner – who both graduated from the UA in the 1970s – and Beach, also a UA graduate, had begun having similar talks. Around the same time, the Arizona Daily Star was talking about hosting another book festival.

Eventually, Beach and the Viners approached Farias and the four of them approach the Arizona Daily Star. And there began the seedlings for an ever-growing collaboration that has ultimately resulted in the festival, which is relied on more than 200 volunteers to put together.

And University Medical Center offered initial support and is the major presenter for the festival. "The festival would not have been launched in the way that it has without University Medical Center's support," said Bruce Beach, who also is affiliated with the Southern Arizona Leadership Council.

Farias, who said the team also met with publishers in various cities across the United States, also said that "we have really solidified some incredible relationships in what I perceive to be really important."

He also noted that the UA is affiliated with the new Literacy of Life Coalition, which is one of the festival's sponsors. The coalition is a group of individuals, government agencies and organizations working together to improve literacy for children, adolescents and adults.

"There is a whole host of people who have stepped up and helped us," Farias said.

"It has just been an incredibly rewarding experience to have been one of the four co-founders of the festival and to collaborate with other people throughout the Tucson community to bring along this enormous event," he said. "We hope the Tucson community will understand the significance of this event and will embrace it immediately."