Tucson Festival of Books

{{Infobox recurring event

| name = Tucson Festival of Books

| logo = Tucson Festival of Books Logo.svg

| logo_alt = The words Tucson Festival of Books in thin white letters over a black background, with the words Arizona Daily Star above the logo and The University of Arizona underneath the logo in black letters in their stylized fonts

| logo_caption = Tucson Festival of Books logo

| image = University of Arizona May 2019 38 (Mall).jpg

| alt = A photo of the University of Arizona mall, mostly empty with green grass and tall red brick buildings on either side of the mall. The sidewalks to either side of the mall are lined with palm trees.

| caption = The University of Arizona mall

| begins = March 15, 2025

| ends = March 16, 2025

| frequency = Annually

| venue = University of Arizona

| location = Tucson, Arizona

| country = United States

| years_active = 2009-present

| first = {{start date and age|2009|03|14}}

| founders = Bill Viner, Brenda Viner, Frank Farias, John M. Humenik, Bruce Beach

| last = {{End date|2024|03|10}}

| participants = 130,000 (2024)

| attendance = 2,360,000 (cumulative)

| organizer = The Tucson Festival of Books Foundation

| filing = 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

| sponsors = Arizona Daily Star (named), University of Arizona (named), Tucson Medical Center (presenting)

| website = {{Official URL|http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org}}

}}

The Tucson Festival of Books is a free annual book fair held in Tucson, Arizona during the second weekend in March. It was established in 2009 by Bill Viner, Frank Farias, John M. Humenik, Bruce Beach, and Brenda Viner. The event is primarily sponsored by the University of Arizona, which hosts the festival, and the Arizona Daily Star.

The first annual festival featured around 450 authors and welcomed over 50,000 regional visitors. The largest Festivals in 2018 and 2019 reached an estimated attendance of 140,000, and the most recent iteration almost returned to pre-pandemic levels with an estimated 130,000 visitors in 2024.{{Cite web|url=http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=15|title=About the Tucson Festival of Books|website=tucsonfestivalofbooks.org|access-date=2018-02-02}}

Purpose and history

The event typically includes special programming for children and teens, panels by best-selling and emerging authors, a literary circus, culturally diverse programs, a poetry venue, exhibitor booths and two food courts.{{Cite web|url = https://www.visittucson.org/event/10th-annual-tucson-festival-books |title = 10th Annual Tucson Festival of Books|website = visittucson.com|access-date = 2018-02-02}}{{Cite web|url = https://www.pw.org/conferences/tucson_festival_of_books |title = Tucson Festival of Books|website = pw.org|access-date = 2018-02-15}} The Festival's mission is to improve literacy rates among children and adults in Southern Arizona. Since its creation, the Festival has donated over $2.36 million to agencies that improve literacy in the community such as Reading Seed, Literacy Connects, and University of Arizona Literacy Outreach Programs.{{Cite web|url=http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=155|title=Frequently Asked Questions|website=tucsonfestivalofbooks.org|access-date=2018-02-02}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.authorhouse.com/infomailer/TucsonFestivalofBooks.aspx|title=The 2018 Tucson Festival of Books|website = authorhouse.com|access-date = 2018-02-15}}

In addition to aiding the fight against illiteracy, the festival also helps the local community tremendously. In a study by a students at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, the festival was found to pump an estimated $4 million into Tucson’s economy annually.{{Cite web|url = http://tucson.com/business/local/tucson-festival-of-books-is-an-economic-powerhouse/article_a525d0a3-bc56-55b1-82c9-1c7ccadeecf8.html |title = Tucson Festival of Books Is an Economic Powerhouse |website = tucson.com |language = en-US|access-date = 2018-02-02}} The festival has also been covered by C-SPAN, with over 120 videos in the C-SPAN Video Library.{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/organization/?60380/Tucson-Festival-Books|title=Tucson Festival of Books|website = c-span.org|access-date = 2018-02-15}}

The 2020 edition of the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite news|last=Knott|first=Gloria|title=Coronavirus fears force cancellation of Tucson Festival of Books|url=https://tucson.com/news/local/coronavirus-fears-force-cancellation-of-tucson-festival-of-books/article_cad7f800-622f-11ea-85ff-ff32b775c57f.html|accessdate=March 13, 2020|work=Arizona Daily Star|date=March 10, 2020}} The event was held virtually in 2021.{{Cite web|title=Tucson Festival of Books Announces March 2021 All Virtual Festival|url=https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=1444|access-date=2021-02-18|website=tucsonfestivalofbooks.org}}

Festivals by year

Each year, the Festival appoints an animal native to the Sonoran Desert as its mascot. In 2011, the Founders Award was established to recognize "literary achievement that captivated [the] imagination and whose body of work will be an inspiration to readers, writers, and booklovers".{{Cite web|url=http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=668|title=About the Tucson Festival of Books|website=tucsonfestivalofbooks.org|access-date = 2024-12-16}}

class="wikitable"
Year	Estimated Attendance	Mascot	Founders Award
2009 \| 50,000 \| gila monster \| rowspan="2" \| not awarded
2010 \| 80,000 \| hummingbird
2011 \| 100,000 \| tarantula \| Elmore Leonard
2012 \| 120,000 \| Sonoran green toad \| Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
2013 \| 120,000 \| butterfly \| R. L. Stine
2014 \| 130,000 \| quail \| Richard Russo
2015 \| 130,000 \| bobcat \| The Rock Bottom Remainders
2016 \| 135,000 \| jackrabbit \| J. A. Jance
2017 \| 135,000 \| roadrunner \| T. C. Boyle
2018 \| 140,000 \| coyote \| Billy Collins
2019 \| 140,000 \| javelina \| Luís Alberto Urrea
2020 !colspan="3" \| festival canceled due to COVID-19
2021 \| unknown (online) \| owl \| Lisa See
2022 \| 100,000 \| prairie dog \| Annette Gordon-Reed
2023 \| 125,000 \| raccoon \| Thomas Perry
2024 \| 130,000 \| coatimundi \| T. Jefferson Parker
2025 \| TBD \| Mexican free-tailed bat \| TBA

class="wikitable"

Year

Estimated Attendance

Mascot

Founders Award

2009

| 50,000

| gila monster

| rowspan="2" | not awarded

2010

| 80,000

| hummingbird