Tucson Festival of Books

Plants, Predators & Parasites


Immerse yourself in stories of Earth’s vast living world, spanning plants, animals, microbes, and even viruses with authors Riley Black, James Campbell, and Mindy Weisberger. Dive into prehistoric ecosystems, wildlife conservation, and mind-bending parasitic “zombie” insects in a dynamic panel celebrating science, storytelling, and the surprising connections that shape life on Earth.


Panelists
Riley Black

Riley Black, heralded as a premier gifted young science writer, is the award-winning author of "My Beloved Brontosaurus," "Written in Stone," "When Dinosaurs Ruled," and "The Last Days of the Dinosaurs....

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James Campbell

James Campbell is the award-winning author of "The Final Frontiersman," "Braving It," and "The Ghost Mountain Boys." He has written for Outside magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Men’s Journal, and many other publications....

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Mindy Weisberger

Mindy Weisberger is a science writer, editor, producer and voiceover artist who has written for CNN, Scientific American, Live Science, and Scholastic. Her reporting covers weird animal behavior, paleontology, strange medical cases, space, earth science and more....

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Books:
Rise of the Zombie Bugs
The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control
Mindy Weisberger
Science / Medicine / Technology
JHU Press
April 2025
ISBN 9781421451350
296 pages
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When the Earth Was Green
Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance
Riley Black
Science / Medicine / Technology
St. Martin's Publishing Group
February 2025
ISBN 9781250288998
304 pages
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Heart of the Jaguar
The Extraordinary Conservation Effort to Save the Americas' Legendary Cat
James Campbell
Science / Medicine / Technology
W. W. Norton, Incorporated
November 2025
ISBN 9780393867619
336 pages
Buy now