Tucson Festival of Books
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| photo credit: Joel Messner, Hotel McCoy |
There are a few subjects that are themes in my life. My favorite things to talk about. Defend. The line in the sand, hills I will die on.
The gospel-the good news of God's redemptive love. Coffee is worth heartburn. Love is the whole pie, not a slice of it. How we treat the oppressed...the immigrant, orphan, widow, and poor...is how we would treat Jesus if he were here (spoiler: he literally said that). Stories are what shape us as a society. And empathy is a strength not a weakness.
Maybe I'm biased. In the Strength Finder test empathy is my #1 strength so every time lately I hear it attacked a piece of me dies a little. It was pretty much universally seen as a strength to everyone but the mafia until about a year ago, and now it's a sin. And that stings a little. I'm also a lifelong fan of libraries, and scholastic book fairs, and the smell of old books. Books and empathy can't really be separated. So, when my friend, Pearl, invited me and our friend, Robyn, to the Tucson Festival of Books I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do more!
Because our teenagers started seeing authors they recognized on the presenter and book signing lists, and then our husbands didn't want to be left out of the road trip fun, we decided to diversify, and include the guys.
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| photo of Kenny by Pearl, just outside Tucson |
None of us were fully prepared for the massiveness that apparently rivaled Comicon. Tents of vendors selling self-published books, literature themed trinkets, giving away Bibles, bookmarks, and pamphlets for various social groups lined several blocks through the middle of the UofA campus. The list of sessions in which authors would be interviewed was massive and overwhelming...from cookbook publishers, to activists and historians, children's book authors, young adult and adult fantasy, romance, thriller, mystery, historical fiction, memoirs all had their own spots.
The morning started at a frantic pace as we joined ques for some of the most popular panels of the day. Pearl and Kenny chose the Race, Ethnicity, and the Election session which apparently was VERY popular and well facilitated. Our friend, Logan was primarily there because of Tui T Sutherland, author of the Wings of Fire series. When I saw that was standing room only, Dan and I left Mo to go see my good friend, Karen Chow who was part of the "Writing Her World: Girls of Color with Complex Lives" panel. I LOVED it! Even though I do not have a middle school author, I loved learning about some of these new books with lead characters of various backgrounds. There were heroines of mixed race, of indigenous descent, Latina and children of Taiwanese immigrants. I see two purposes in promoting this. First, so that other little girls see themselves represented. As Karen shared, growing up, the closest thing she had to a character that "looked" like her was the Japanese American character from the Babysitters' Club series who was honestly nothing at all like her. Everyone deserves to feel seen and understood! But I also see that for those of us not in those shoes, this is the closest thing we may ever get to understanding and empathizing with their lives. And to be able to see them as well rounded, individuals whose lives are both the same and different from ours in many ways, and who have many shared experiences with a particular people-group but who also have their own personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and experiences all their own. As a bonus, I got to see Karen there as one of the authors, living the dream that started with the two of us, our cute journals, and pink and purple gel-pens, doing character sketches in a Starbucks 25 years ago. Way to go, Karen!
Book Recommendations from this session:
Miracle by Karen S. Chow
Gabby Torres Gets a Billion Followers by Angela Dominguez
Literally anything by Monica Brown, because there's a long list, and it varies from simple chapter books to picture books. I found her fascinating to listen to.
The Jo Jo Makoons series, for a modern-day Native American female lead character
We all continued to scatter a bit over the next few hours as some of the Messners waited in a long line for autographs, a few of us grabbed schnitzel, brats, pizza, and tikka masala. And Kenny and Pearl pushed through, obviously hungrier for knowledge and experience than schnitzel because when it comes to the book festival, they go hard!
Pearl, Kenny, and I attended a session we expected, from the title, to be kind of self-help oriented, but it turned out to be writers of historical fiction with some sort of twist. This happens to kind of be my go-to genre, so worked out great!!!!
Book Recommendations from this session:
Katharine, the Wright Sister and also The President's Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood
The Stolen Child by Ann Hood
*Side Note: Ann Hood was probably my favorite author to listen to. She was witty and engaging and I kind of want to be here in like 20 years. So, her book is arriving from Amazon tomorrow, just a few hours too late to take to jury duty I'm afraid.
While we were in this one, Dan took some of the boys to a character writing workshop. I know you're relieved they didn't have to sit through this rather female-loaded session with me and Pearl, and super-awesome Kenny, who is such a good sport!
From what Dan said, Moses participated boldly several times and was so well spoken as he presented his questions and comments. Always so proud of that kid, and grateful for the speech therapists who have helped him iron out those r's and th's and the great teachers who encourage our thinkers!
I wish I could have been everywhere at once. I got some great recommendations from Pearl based on some of their breakout sessions...
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| Photo by Kenny, UofA, Pearl with Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez |
A Few Recommendations based on Pearl's list:
Tias and Primas by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez
My Chicano Heart by Daniel A. Olivas
The Truth About Immigration by Zeke Hernandez
I hope that you stuck with me so far, because I think the last session, which I attended by myself because I needed to get in line 45 minutes early for, was the grand finale. Among other "thriller/mystery" writers, I got to see one of my favorites-William Kent Krueger.
First of all, because while in line I got to use my "skills" to help some of the boomers. This was apparently the target audience, and that's ok. I helped them form one line instead of two intersecting lines, and I think I helped make peace between two women, who might have been named Karen, who could not agree about who was in charge (it was me, actually, and the college student in the yellow volunteer shirt), but 15 minutes in we were all good friends, and knew each other's favorite authors, what part of Minnesota everyone was from, and I had given them several great restaurant recommendations. Thanks, Dad, for teaching me how to talk to anyone.
Once inside, one of the ladies who might be named Karen was so delighted when she ended up in a seat next time me and we could continue our conversation!
Will was everything you'd hope while reading his both thrilling and sweet, and wise books like Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land. (I've read them by include them in your Recommended Book list). He was relatable, self-effacing, and warm. I discovered from him and his other fans that I simply must read the Cork OConnor Mystery Series, which is at least a million books long. There was also some anger over what he "did" to one of the fan favorite characters at some point. I don't know...we'll find out together.
In this same session we were introduced to an author who said she literally bought a home in the Yukon so she could more accurately write her thriller set there. An ex-CIA agent turned writer, who used to give the president briefings and now writes edge of seat novels set in Russia.
My To-Read Started List:
Like I said, if you haven't read William Kent Krueger's standalone novels, especially Ordinary Grace, it is simply beautiful. There's always a mystery, but that's not even the point.
Cork OConnor Mystery series by William Kent Krueger
Murder at Haven Rock by Kelley Armstrong
The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey
We had made plans to stay at the very unique and retro Hotel McCoy in Tucson. Pearl originally planned to just stay for the day, but later, her and Kenny decided to reserve a camping spot just outside of Tucson where we all joined them for hobo dinners (a Caravan camp tradition for Pearl and Robyn).
I'm not going to lie, the only warmth came from the warmth of our friendships, because there were no fire pits, and so we took turns putting our little foil packs on a tiny round charcoal stove the size of a Dutch oven we all tried to huddle around with Kenny and Pearl's blankets wrapped around us! It was almost comically cold in the desert.
But there were stars everywhere! And to everyone's shock we watched what we think was possibly star link, but maybe was Santa's sleigh, cross the sky, disappearing slowly into the distance. We shared our experiences for the day. We talked about books about history, and immigrants, and people of all ages and walks of life. As Robyn explained so well, "We wouldn't know what we don't know if it weren't for stories." She explained we're all basically born surrounded by people who look very much like us, and share a certain perspective and similar life experiences. We can't know what we don't know without other people's stories. What a precious thing it is to have access to that!
I could write a ton more about the cool hotel, our favorite Tucson burger spot and why Mexican Coke (served lots of places in Tucson) is far superior to American Coke from the fountain or can no matter what fellow pastor, Ryan Albaugh says about them being exactly the same. But I think Robyn's words are a great place to stop. I am so thankful for the gift of friends that love each other enough to host a late-night dinner party, share their blankets, and huddle in the cold and watch stars and talk about things that matter. I definitely think this won't be my last Tucson Festival of Books.
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| photo by Joel Messner, Hotel McCoy |
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