By Rob Halberg
The 12th Annual Tucson Festival of Books will be held March 14 – 15 from 9:30am to 5:30pm at the University of Arizona. Entry is free.
When it began in 2009, there were 450 authors and about 50,000 attendees. This week over 135,000 people are expected to attend, making it the third largest Festival of Books in the nation.
The Festival’s mission is to improve literacy rates among children and adults in Southern Arizona. Since its inception, the Festival has donated over $1.65 million to agencies dedicating to improving literacy in the community.
Parking is free in the Catalina Parking Garage. All of the UA lots are open and there is no charge for metered parking on Saturday. One fun idea to consider is to park across from the Mercado San Agustin (great shopping!) and take the streetcar. It will take you to UA but you can also stop downtown and enjoy the sights, shopping, and restaurants.
As I perused the schedule, I found a number of interesting topics, including; “Not Just a Dog & Pony Show” about how animals enrich our lives, “Fantastic History” which includes stories of magic, ghosts and time warps, and “Unintended Consequences” about families that nudged young people in directions they did not expect.
There are also 20 adult workshops on writing and illustrating as well as nine workshops for kids.
This is a great, fun event for adults and children. Hope to see you there!