Second Annual, Two-Day Book Festival Opens This Month

In its second year, the Tucson Festival of Books, which will be held on the UA campus in March, has exceeded initial expectations.

Some said they were crazy to try to build a major book festival from the ground up. Others said – in Tucson? Not likely.

But when Bill and Brenda Viner connected with Frank Farias, executive director of the University of Arizona Bookstores, with an idea to introduce a local festival of books, Farias and his staff had already spent six months building a framework for a festival.

So Farias and the Viners, two lovers of literature, joined forces with Bruce Beach and John M. Humenik, the Arizona Daily Star's editor and publisher.

The group has since founded the Tucson Festival of Books Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is supporting the second annual festival that promotes literacy. 

The March 13-14 festival, which will be held in various locations around the University campus, brings together more than 450 authors from around the country whose work dips into just about every conceivable genre.

"There are hundreds of people putting a lot of time and energy into this," said Kimberly Schmitz, the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau's communications and public relations director.

Schmitz, a UA alumna who also is on the festival's organizing committee, said that despite the size and complexity of the festival, it is run well. 

"I think that for such a young event to be incredibly organized and to have such commitment from so many different community members is really important," she added. 

Schmitz also said the driver, for many, is the festival's range. 

"There is something for every single person," she said.

"There is something for a kid of just about every age, writers learning to publish, someone who just loves books or if you have a specific affinity for mystery, romance or travel," Schmitz added. "It's almost overwhelming because there is so much and only two days." 

Farias said the event was so popular this year that the organizers had to be more selective about who was slated.

The festival will feature more than 450 authors and a range of events, including panel discussions, workshops and exhibitions, book signings, competitions, live cooking demonstrations, storytelling, music and a range of activities for young people.

The overall festival is free and open to the public with only one event offered at a cost: Tickets are $125 for the Author's Table Dinner, a fundraiser, with NPR host and Peabody Award-winner Scott Simon. 

Among the new additions and highlights this year: 

• Among the headliners are Academy Award-winning author Diana Ossana, former Associated Press journalist Lynne Olson and NPR's Simon. Others include bestselling authors Larry McMurtry, Alice Hoffman, J.A. Jance, Phillip Margolin, Terry Brooks and Curtis Sittenfeld. 
• Chris Karwowski and Joe Garden of The Onion, a satirical national news publication, will speak.
• The Arizona Daily Star Pavilion will offer a space for self-published authors to talk about their works and also what people who want to publish need to know.  
• The UA's Special Collections will be open to visitors and the UA Libraries will hold a "Challenged Book Challenge" for a chance to win photographic works and Friends of the University Libraries cards, which are valued at $150 each.
• The festival will include a family entertainment area and a site specifically for children and teenagers, with workshops and authors engaged in a range of activities. 
• The food court was expanded to include nine local restaurants.
• Twitter and Facebook accounts have been established for the festival and will be updated by the Caliber Group. The festival also has an application for iPod users downloadable on the Apple Store's Web site. 
• C-SPAN will conduct live interviews on site, and broadcast after the festival.
• Those interested in volunteering – and more are needed – can now browse openings and apply on the festival's Web site. 
• A searchable page with event information is available on the festival's Web site.

"The way the community has embraced the event was probably beyond our wildest dreams," said Bill Viner, also chief executive officer of Pepper Viner Homes. "We seem to be on track or, maybe, ahead of where we thought we would be."

The success from last year's festival, for instance, enabled the festival's foundation to donate $200,000 for a range of local literacy initiatives. 

"That's been the focus," Viner said. "We wanted to create a catalyst to recognize that there are educational and literacy issues in our community."

Farias said one key component of the festival, and one of the reasons why the founders pushed for nonprofit status, was to be able to ensure that the profits from the event remain in the community.

"The UA gets a portion to support bringing prestigious authors back and also to support programs that reach out to encourage children to think about college," Farias said. "Our goal is to promote literacy."