Tucson Festival of Books

Where & When Saturday and Sunday March 15 and 16, 2025 | University of Arizona Campus, Tucson

Reviewer Patricia Cassidy

The Tucson Festival of Books is a two-day event held at the University of Arizona Campus during Spring Break. Founded in 2009, it is the third largest Book Festival in the USA and celebrates books, authors, illustrators and readers.

Saturday was a beautiful day. There were 350 presenting authors and panelists for these two days so I had to be choosy on who I listened to and at what venue. Because this event takes place at the University during Spring Break authors use the classrooms, auditoriums, libraries, ballrooms etc. to talk to us and some of the venues hold 500 people or more. I lined up. but not for long. There were 235 exhibitors, Science City, Lots of activities for kids and masses of books for everyone on every imaginable subject.They also had Book TV LIVE with interviews with a wide range of subjects.

I decided I would attend an event with a well-known celebrity author like Scott Turow, whose books I love, and talk with an Indie author who was there to promote her three books on being sixtyish and single.

Scott Turow talked about how he became an established author (his books have sold 30 million copies and are translated into 40 languages) and his legal career. He was asked about his latest book Presumed Guilty, which he is here to promote, and gave us an idea of what we can expect without revealing everything. Mr. Turow talked at length about how he sets up his books, story wise, plot, and the difference between storytelling and writing. He was asked about what particular skill sets he has that have made him such a popular writer (good question!) and his interest in human psychology was the answer and is his driving force. He also talked about the band The Rock Bottom Remainders – a band that includes some of our most talented authors: Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Mich Albom, Stephen King and Turow. He loves what they do (charity events. He, like others in the band, are not musicians and he said Stephen King is like Beethoven compared to him.

Susan Luzader Photo: Patricia Cassidy

I also spoke with Susan Luzader, an Indie Author who has written three books titled “Wine and Cereal”. All three volumes are an irreverent and humorous look at a female being sixtyish and single. Volume One introduces up to the single life. and Volume two happened during Covid but Volume three is a further look at the same but where she talks freely post-Covid about her travels. The Book Festival is a great place for Ms. Luzader to promote her books as the walk by foot traffic was enormous. The place was packed.

There is ongoing music on several stages, and I delighted in listening to an all-woman Mariachi band who like to sing and play music written by women. They were fabulous. There were wonderful food trucks on hand with every kind of food you can imagine. I had a Thai curry and was very grateful that I, a huge reader, attended this wonderful event and plan to return next year.

© 2025 Patricia Cassidy