Instead of winding down for spring break, the UA is preparing to host the Tucson Festival of Books, an event celebrating reading and literacy in Southern Arizona.

The family-friendly festival returns for its third year at the UA campus this Saturday and Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission and parking are free.

“”We all wanted to do a large event in Tucson that would really help focus and maybe even help solve some of our literacy and education issues here,”” said Brenda Viner, a co-founder and organizer of the festival. “”It has caught fire. It has been an amazing process and an amazing partnership of government agencies and private business and the University of Arizona.””

This collaboration will bring in more than 400 authors and poets at this year’s event to participate in panel discussions, settle down for book signings and give workshops.

Workshops cover broad range of topics for authors such as “”Forensics and Firearms,”” finding an agent and learning how to write in a certain genre. All workshops are free and require no registration.

Authors scheduled to appear range from Robert Crais (Elvis Cole novels) and Brad Meltzer (“”The Inner Circle””) to Louis Sachar (“”Sideways Stories from Wayside School,”” “”Holes””).

“”From both festivals, one of my favorite moments was seeing everybody show up,”” said Helene Woodhams, co-chair of the festival’s authors committee and literary-arts librarian for Pima County Library. “”It’s wonderful how big this is and how it really speaks to the fact that Tucson is a book community.””

An estimated 70,000 to 80,000 attendees flocked to the UA Mall and campus last year, which made the event the fourth largest book festival in the U.S., according to the Tucson Festival of Books website.

To date, the nonprofit Tucson Festival of Books Foundation has raised a total of $350,000 from the event to benefit literacy organizations in Southern Arizona.

New features this year include:

The Twitter wall — you can see what guests, authors, organizers and volunteers are tweeting about the event.

The E-Reader Experience — visitors can test out the Nook, iPad and other reading devices.

National Parks Pavilion — Tucson-based Western National Parks Association will have a showcase of 20 national parks with authors, demonstrations and performances.

For more information about events, workshops and the list of authors scheduled to appear, visit www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.