Tucson Festival of Books

2026 Presenting Author Schedule!

The Presenting Author Schedule is ready!  View our offerings and make a personalized list of sessions you'd like to see. Fast Pass events are identified with a small ticket icon in the upper right corner.

When attending author events, bring a clear bag to avoid entry delays while adhering to the university's Clear Bag Policy.  

Allow a little extra time:  With an increase in security, screenings may take extra time depending on crowds, so plan to arrive early to avoid missing your session.

Fast Passes for sessions in Ballroom, Gallagher Theater, Integrated Learning Center 120, Koffler 204 will be available to Friends of the Festival March 4 and Public March 9.

How to Reserve Fast Passes

Each event on this grid has a star next to it. Click a star to bookmark an event. Click it again to remove the bookmark. When you are finished, you can view your bookmarked events in a printer-ready format here.

Legend:       Business |       Children |       Culinary |       Current Issues / Politics / Social Science |       Fiction / Literature |       Fine Arts / Photography |       Graphic Novel |       History / Biography |       Humor / Comedy |       Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction |       Music / Performing Arts |       Mystery / Thrillers |       Nature / Environment |       Nuestras Raices |       Poetry |       Romance |       Science / Medicine / Technology |       Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror |       Sports |       Teen |       Travel |       True Crime |       National Book Awards |       Southwest Books of the Year |       America 250 |       Multi Genre |       No Genre
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
Arizona Daily Star Stage
(Seats 250)
Backroom Deals in Our Own Backyards
No event
Mars Madness
No event
No event
No event
Student Union North Ballroom
(Seats 670)
No event
No event
No event
No event
Student Union Gallagher Theater
(Seats 337)
The Art of the Deep Dive
No event
Lessons from the Middle East
No event
Investigative Reporting
No event
America 250: Revolutionary Thinking
No event
Student Union Kachina
(Seats 100)
No event
Stories of Survival
No event
No event
Creating Worlds That Breathe
No event
No event
Student Union Santa Rita
(Seats 110)
Women at the Crossroads
No event
Burn It All Down
No event
Queer Love, Loss and Representation
No event
Activism in Action
No event
Bias and Inequity in Medicine
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
Student Union Sabino
(Seats 87)
Covering a World on the Brink
No event
How To Heal a Heart
No event
Curiosity, Critters and Craft
No event
Choices and Consequences
No event
Student Union Kiva
(Seats 100)
Women Shaping Poetry
No event
No event
Sing, Slam, Shout!
No event
Speak of the Body
No event
No event
UA Campus Store Stage
(Seats 250)
Look at the Bright Side
No event
Wit and Wonder
No event
Misfits, Meddlers and Murder
No event
Undiscovered Country
No event
American Icons
The Commons Room 105
(Seats 217)
No event
Getting Away with Murder?
No event
The Weight of Truth
No event
Dark Entities
No event
Koffler Room 204
(Seats 278)
Everyday Heroes
No event
No event
Dead in Chicago
No event
No event
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
Koffler Room 216
(Seats 85)
Who I Am
No event
Why Not Both? Writing Romance for Teens and Adults
No event
The Stories We Inherit
No event
Plot Twists and Page-Turners
No event
Smiling Through the Tears
Koffler Room 218
(Seats 125)
A Little Attitude and a Lot of Swagger
No event
An American Journey Through Sports
No event
Storytelling as a Source of Healing
No event
Dark Hearts, Darker Deeds
No event
Joyful Lives, Simple Acts
Culinary Stage
(Seats 265)
Romancing the Stove
No event
Salsa Daddy
No event
Reclaiming Indigenous Cuisine
No event
Preserving Foods for Modern Pioneers
No event
Truly Texas Mexican Plant-Based Cooking
UA Mall Tent
(Seats 250)
Family Matters
No event
The Lasting Impact of Fame
No event
Tech Gone Wild
No event
If You Like Basketball
No event
Bluff the Reader
Nuestras Raíces Stage
(Seats 150)
No event
No event
No event
Borderlore: Narrativas de la Frontera
No event
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
Integrated Learning Center Room 120
(Seats 300)
Deadly History
No event
Murders that Shaped America
No event
Tactical Minds, Deadly Hands
No event
Working Hard, Hardly Working
No event
Off the Beaten Path
Integrated Learning Center Room 130
(Seats 143)
Extremism in a Post-Truth America
No event
No event
Back to the Future in Sports?
No event
Solved
No event
Our World, Shifted
Integrated Learning Center Room 150
(Seats 155)
Lead with Curiosity, Act with Purpose
No event
Joy, Fame and a Little Rock ’n’ Roll
No event
Unraveling the Whodunit
No event
What Can We Learn from Ukraine?
No event
Laureates in Conversation
Integrated Learning Center Room 119
(Seats 60)
No event
Sorry! Session Canceled
No event
No event
No event
Integrated Learning Center Room 125AB
(Seats 40)
Workshop: Writing the Hard Stuff
No event
Workshop: Writing Romance with Heart
No event
Workshop: The Art of the Pitch
No event
Workshop: Family and Food
No event
Workshop: Compelling Characters
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
UA Library/Special Collections
(Seats 110)
Celluloid West
No event
History, Conflict and the Americas
No event
Untold Stories
No event
Southwest Families, Past and Present
No event
Art and the Southwest
National Park Experience Stage
(Seats 146)
No event
No event
No event
No event
Science City - Main Stage
(Seats 195)
Roots, Relics and Revelations
No event
Invisible Forces: From Airborne Agents to Global Poisons
No event
No event
The Strange and the Fierce: Stories from Earth’s Wild Side
No event
Cosmic Questions
Education Room 211 (Kiva)
(Seats 200)
No event
No event
No event
Journey to the Lost Cities with Shannon Messenger
No event
Education Room 349
(Seats 48)
Cartooning Rules! Workshop for Kids Ages 6 +
No event
What's Your Superpower? Workshop for Kids
No event
Let's Tell a Story: Workshop for Kids
No event
Draw a World on Your Head: Workshop for Kids
No event
Draw an Itty Bitty Story: Workshop for Kids
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
Education Room 351
(Seats 46)
No event
No event
No event
No event
Education Room 353
(Seats 92)
No event
No event
No event
No event
WWII: War and Resistance
Education Room 437
(Seats 65)
No event
No event
Illustrator Studio: Ink and Watercolor
No event
Illustrator Studio: Meaning in Materials
No event
Education Room 333: Parent Educator
(Seats 44)
No event
No event
No event
No event
No event
UA Library YA /Room 254 Main Floor
(Seats 55)
No event
No event
No event
No event
Sat, Mar 14
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:30 pm
4:00 pm
YA Author Stage
(Seats 84)
Step into the Dark Side of YA
No event
Survival and Action in an Unfair World
No event
Heart-Stopping Thrillers of Power & Control
No event
Living Our Truths in a Harsh World
No event
The "Meet Cute" in Rom Coms
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Arizona Daily Star Stage
(Seats 250)
Sorry! Session Canceled
Student Union North Ballroom
(Seats 670)
Student Union Gallagher Theater
(Seats 337)
Poking the Russian Bear
America 250: Past, Present and Future
Our Planet is in Peril
Democracy: Can We Keep It?
A More Intelligent National Security
Student Union Tucson Room
(Seats 110)
Conscience and Consequence
Shades of Mystery
Darkness Abounds
When Identity Changes Everything
I Will Survive
Student Union Kachina
(Seats 100)
No event
Don't Want You to Want Me
Laughing Along the Way
Food in Culture and Community
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Student Union Santa Rita
(Seats 110)
No event
Rewriting the Story
No Badge Needed
No event
Student Union Sabino
(Seats 87)
Beach Boys' Lost Album, Legendary Sound
Control and the Speculative Imagination
Noise, Quiet and Well-Being
Love and the Stories We Tell
No event
Student Union Kiva
(Seats 100)
Memory and Intimacy
Poetry vs. the Patriarchy
Imagined Borders
Translation and Ekphrasis
Meet the New Poet Laureates
UA Campus Store Stage
(Seats 250)
No Amateurs Allowed
Writing Love in Arizona
Barely Surviving (and Loving It)
That's Entertainment
The Art of Unease
The Commons Room 105
(Seats 217)
Deadly Crimes in Different Times
Trauma, Memory and Truth
Chaos, Comedy, Reality
Funny, Fierce, Unapologetically Honest
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Koffler Room 204
(Seats 278)
The Ties That Bind
The Truth Will Out
Accidental Heroes
Koffler Room 216
(Seats 85)
No Easy Choices
Hunting the Killer
When Truth Is Dangerous: Stories of Defiance
Tomorrow’s Bestsellers Today
No event
Koffler Room 218
(Seats 125)
Rotten to the Core
Stories of Self
The Fight to be Understood
Humor, Heart and the Darkly Surreal
Culinary Stage
(Seats 265)
Modern Navajo Cooking
Stand By Your Pan
Treasured Recipes Lost and Found
Cooking That Lingers
No event
UA Mall Tent
(Seats 250)
Reinventing American Entertainment
No Stones Unturned
Faithfully Dead
Can't We All Just Get Along?
Confessions of a Writer
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Nuestras Raíces Stage
(Seats 150)
Integrated Learning Center Room 120
(Seats 300)
Injustice for All?
"Fixing" Sports
Investigating the Crime
When Fact Becomes Legend
No event
Integrated Learning Center Room 130
(Seats 143)
Deadly Heat
International Insecurity
High-Stakes Mysteries
Homegrown Hate Crimes
Gaining Freedom
Integrated Learning Center Room 150
(Seats 155)
History Is Not Destiny
Thrills, Chills and Laughs
Finding One's Place
Sports Immortals
No event
Integrated Learning Center Room 119
(Seats 60)
No event
No event
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Integrated Learning Center Room 125AB
(Seats 40)
Workshop: Reeling Readers In
Workshop: The Power of Place
No event
UA Library/Special Collections
(Seats 110)
The Real Work Behind Great Events
Meet Luis Alberto Urrea
Adventures in Writing
Seeing the Southwest
No event
National Park Experience Stage
(Seats 146)
Science City - Main Stage
(Seats 195)
The Hidden Environment: What We Breathe, Drink and Hear
Designing Tomorrow: Human Wisdom and the Promise of AI
Medicine and Meaning in Today's World
How We Heal
Scientific Trailblazers
Education Room 211 (Kiva)
(Seats 200)
Journey to the House of Shivers
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Education Room 349
(Seats 48)
Design a Dragon: Workshop for Kids
Drawing with InvestiGators: Workshop for Kids
Draw Like An Artist: Workshop for Children
Create a Luchador with Raúl the Third
Education Room 351
(Seats 46)
A Conversation with Ruchira Gupta
Education Room 353
(Seats 92)
Flights of Imagination and Discovery
No event
Education Room 437
(Seats 65)
Illustrator Studio: Acrylic Techniques
Illustrator Studio: Shapes, Forms & Colors
No event
Education Room 333: Parent Educator
(Seats 44)
No event
Sun, Mar 15
10:00 am
11:30 am
1:00 pm
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
UA Library YA /Room 254 Main Floor
(Seats 55)
Commit to the Story: YA Workshop
YA Author Stage
(Seats 84)
No event
Fake Dating and Second Chances: YA Rom-Com
Nothing is Certain: Thrill of the Unknown
Romantasy: Love, Secrets and Betrayal
Golden Hour: Showcase of Youth Poets