Went For Books, Left With Hope
My adventures at the Tucson Book Festival
Many days lately I’ve found myself avoiding all news. It’s just so bad and there’s just so much of it, I can’t handle it. Just opening the headlines makes my whole body tense. For a while it was all because of immigration, then we started a few wars, and now we have recent weather extremes. Colorado just had it’s warmest/driest winter in history. The snowpack is so bad they’re already implementing water restrictions. And it’s only March. Two days ago, Tucson set a new record for the earliest EVER 100 degree weather day. Regardless of where I look: globally, nationally or locally, all the news is all bad.
Then last weekend, I found myself standing on the sidewalk on the University of Arizona campus at 9:15 am, in line for an author event at 10:00 am. And there were already 100 other people in line with me. And these were kids! All politely lined up on a Saturday morning to see their favorite author speak.
I was there to see R.L. Stine - the bestselling author who wrote the Goosebumps and Fear Street series. He’s sold more than 400 million books, primarily to kids and teenagers. And notably, we were born in the same city and have the same degree from the same university.
This was part of the Tucson Festival of Books, a weekend event that brings over 300 published authors to campus, all for free. During two days, I attended nine author events and heard from twenty-five successfully published authors. I took pages and pages of notes, and went home each night pleasantly exhausted.
For an aspiring author like me, this is like having the superbowl right in your own backyard, except it’s absolutely free and open to everyone. This year they hosted bestselling authors like Salman Rushdie and Martha Wells (Murderbot), as well as thriller writer Brad Thor and science writer Carl Zimmer. They host very succesful authors from every different genre and subgenre. Which means there are frequently long lines to get in to the most popular events.
At one point Saturday afternoon, there was a very confusing cluster of intermingled event lines and I found myself in the center of several older women who were about to start throwing elbows. These women were quite tense about the possibility that they might not get in to see their favorite author and this was very serious business indeed. I was a little bit scared of their angst - and their elbows. Then I realized - wait a minute, we’re all in line to see a free campus event with mildly popular fiction authors. HOW COOL IS THIS? This might not be Taylor Swift, but we were all geeking out together over currently popular writers!
After that event ended, I found myself in another crowded event - this one with Neal Shusterman, who writes science fiction for teenagers. The room was about 70% teenagers, 30% adults, and I chatted with the three teenagers sitting next to me. They were college students from Florida, who were on their spring break and flew to Tucson just for this event. Let me repeat that: 3 college students from Florida spent their spring break traveling to Arizona for a free book festival!
The next day, I found myself in line with hundreds of people to see TJ Klune, a queer writer who’s written thirty fantasy books and won dozens of book awards. Again, lots of hand wringing from people in line who wouldn’t make it into the auditorium. I luckily made it inside and found myself appreciating his authentic passion for queer representation in books, and against AI in publishing. As he said, machines can’t make art because they don’t have a soul. He also confessed that he doesn’t like people very much, but he does love humanity.
And at my final event on Sunday, I met a brand new debut author - Cassandra James - who was on a panel about publishing young adult fiction. She was a passionate advocate for persistence in writing, but the best part was watching her brand new husband sneakily photograph and video every aspect of her session, to document her first ever book tour. She was the quintessential debut author and her sincere excitment was so refreshing to witness. She was clearly living her dream life as a writer.
On Monday morning I typed up all my notes, which turned into fourteen typed pages. And as I reflected on everything I’d seen and heard, I had to rethink how I feel about the world in 2026.
Yes, our world is in a signficant state of disruption. Just within publishing, there’s been terrible news: only celebrities are getting book deals, consolidations are causing layoffs, it’s harder than ever to sell books, and people aren’t reading books anymore!
Wait a minute, people aren’t reading books anymore?!
We had 130,000 people attend the Tucson Book Festival. I was astounded by all the passionate kids and teenagers I met. I was amazed by the incredible diversity of all the authors I saw. Books are being written and books are being sold and books are being read. And books are bringing people together.
Books are bringing people together! I was there and I witnessed it. Teenagers were standing in line to get books signed and adults were standing in line to see their favorite writers. Everyone was tolerating the unusually warm weather. Strangers were striking up conversations with the people seated next to them and authors were sharing their perspectives about the world.
Books and stories will always remain a powerful cultural influence because they create alternate worlds, alternate characters, and alternate journeys. Stories show us all the other worlds and lives that are possible. And there are more diverse stories being told and published today than any other time in history. And in this current state of world disruption, we need all these magical stories to help us figure out how to live.
Whenever I do try to read the news, I’m reminded that we’re experiencing dark and uncertain times. And as TJ Klune reminds us: “Even in dark times, there is always going to be light.”
Brad Thor is my Taylor Swift. Please let me know if Dr. Grace and Rocky are ever guest speakers.
So fun to read. What an amazing event.