Every year, UA professors and faculty members attend the Tucson Festival of Books to participate in panel discussions and sign and sell their books. This year is no exception.
The festival will host 14 current UA professors and faculty members as well as over a dozen alumni and former professors.
Allan Hamilton, professor of surgery and author of “The Scalpel and the Soul” and “Zen Mind, Zen Horse: The Science and Spirituality of Training Horses,” has been the subject of acclaimed documentaries and served as a medical consultant for shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice.”
He will host a workshop titled Lessons from a Life with Horses, March 11 at 10 a.m. and will serve as a panelist for a screenwriting discussion at 4 p.m.
UA professor Julie Iromuanya, author of “Mr. and Mrs. Doctor,” will discuss immigrant stories and how her characters experience the American Dream, March 11 at 4 p.m. She will discuss the Southwest’s inspiration and the implications of being published, March 11 at 10 a.m.
English professor and author of “Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit” and the poetry collection “Stairway to Heaven” Alison Deming will be a panelist for Conflict and Coexistence: What Animals Teach Us About Our Humanity, March 11 at 4 p.m. and a poetry reading, March 12 at 2:30 p.m.
Professor Ander Monson, the author of “Letter to a Future Lover: Marginalia, Errata, Secrets, Inscriptions, and Other Ephemera Found in Libraries,” will host an essay workshop March 11 at 1 p.m. and read and discuss essays with his contributors from his new book, “How We Speak to One Another,” March 12 at 1 p.m.
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Professor of Mexican American studies and author of “Our Sacred Maíz Is Our Mother: Indigeneity and Belonging in the Americas” Roberto Rodriguez will be a part of a two-part workshop performing an act from the play “Smiling Brown: Gente de Bronce” and discussing light-skin preference personal narratives.
English professor Johanna Skibsrud will read from her newest poetry collection, “The Description of the World,” March 12 at 10 a.m. In 2010, Skibsrud’s first novel, “The Sentimentalists,” earned her the distinction of being the youngest author to win Canada’s most prestigious literary award, the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Tyina Steptoe, a history professor, will serve as a panelist for A Conversation on Segregated Spaces, March 11 at 11 a.m. Her 2015 book, “Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City,” examines the effects and influences of race in one of the most ethnically and racially diverse cities of its era.
Planetary scientist Kristin Block will share her “Incredible Stories from Space” at a panel March 11 at 1 p.m and will share her insights on challenges at Women Writing about Women in Science, March 12 at 1 p.m. She serves as the principal science operations engineer for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Katherine Standefer, a faculty member of the College of Medicine, will participate in a discussion on “How We Speak to One Another,” a collection of essays she contributed to, March 12 at 1 p.m. Standefer is a well-published essayist and focuses her writing on medical technology, the body and consent.
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Gary Nabhan, the W.K. Kellogg endowed chair in Sustainable Food Systems at the UA, will discuss the creative process at Exploring the Truth Behind Creativity, March 11 at 11 a.m. Nabhan is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, the author of 26 books and an early influencer of the local-food movement.
Editor of University of Arizona Press Amanda Krause will talk to a crowd at What Editors Do, March 11 at 11:30 a.m. She began working with the university in 2013 and has extensive experience with managing the production process of publications.
Stephan Buchmann, adjunct professor of entomology, ecology and evolutionary biology, will be a panelist for The Glorious Insect World, March 11 at 10 a.m. to offer interesting facts on bees and other insects with other naturalists. Buchmann’s most recent book, “The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives,” follows his other award-winning publications, which have earned him appearances on NPR’s
Science Fridays.
Professor Robert Wortman will discuss “Monsters and Friends: Both Real and Imagined” and the importance of these types of stories for children on March 11 at 2:30 p.m. Wortman has been involved with the Tucson Unified School District at every level and will share his favorite books to a crowd on March 12 at 4 p.m.
Adjunct lecturer in the Mexican American Studies Department Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith will discuss her newest book, “Migrant Deaths in the Arizona Desert: La vida no vale nada,” and discuss the results of immigration policy during two panels on March 12 at 2 and 4 p.m. On March 11, she will serve as a panelist for a discussion of the Chicano Movement, its gains and the collective amnesia surrounding it, starting at 1 p.m.
All the locations and schedule for the panel discussions can be found online or in the Tucson Festival of Books guide.
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