Tucson Festival of Books

Leonard Pitts

In a career that now spans 48 years, Leonard Pitts Jr. has worked as a college professor, columnist, radio producer, lecturer and author. In short, he says, he's a writer.

The winner of a Pulitzer Prize in commentary while with the Miami Herald in 2004, Pitts became a syndicated columnist whose work often appeared in the Arizona Daily Star. He comes to the festival with his seventh book ... a novel entitled "54 Miles."

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Awards: Pulitzer Prize

Communities: African American

Scheduled events:

Author, Write Thyself

Edward Burns, Leonard Pitts and Luis Alberto Urrea have walked very different paths in their lives, backstories they use to full effect in their books. In this session, we will learn more about them ... and how their own life experiences are infused into their work.

UA Mall Tent (Seats 250)

Sat, Mar 15, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm
Fiction / Literature
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Central Mall (following presentation)

Panelists: Edward Burns, Leonard Pitts, Luis Alberto Urrea
Moderator: Beth Viner
Sponsors: Session made possible courtesy of Pepper Viner Homes, Barb and Kurt Reuter, Harry and Ann McGovern

Angels from Montgomery

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts returns to Tucson with "54 Miles," a historical novel about families who were at Ground Zero, Alabama, in March of 1965. In many ways, that journey from Selma to Montgomery is still being traveled today.

Arizona Daily Star Stage (Seats 250)

Sun, Mar 16, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm
Fiction / Literature
Signing area: Signing - Arizona Daily Star (following presentation)

Panelist: Leonard Pitts
Moderator: David McCumber
Sponsor: Session made possible courtesy of Arizona Daily Star

Books:

54 Miles

A Novel
Fiction / Literature
Agate Publishing, Incorporated
January 2024
ISBN 9781572843370
344 pages

The Last Thing You Surrender

Fiction / Literature
Bolden, an Agate imprint
January 2019
ISBN 9781572842458
511 pages