Tucson Festival of Books

Tom Zoellner


Sponsored by Holualoa Companies

Tom Zoellner is the author of nine nonfiction books, including "Island on Fire: The Revolt that Ended Slavery in the British Empire," winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for the best nonfiction book of 2020 and a finalist for the Bancroft Prize and the California Book Award. "Rim to River" is his newest book. He works as a professor at Chapman University and Dartmouth College, and he works as an editor-at-large for the Los Angeles Review of Books.

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Awards: National Book Critics Circle Award

Communities: Arizona Author, Tucsonan


Scheduled events:
Western Vistas
A twentieth-century view of the West from authors who have traveled its terrain from the High Plains to the Grand Canyon floor.

UA Library/Special Collections (Seats 110)  View this venue on the Festival map
Sat, Mar 9, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
History / Biography
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Integrated Learning Center (following presentation)  View this venue on the Festival map

Panelists: Will Grant, Betsy Gaines Quammen, Melissa Sevigny
Moderator: Tom Zoellner
Tales from the Trail
Explore the profound journey of these two authors as they share tales of inspiration, contemplation, and realization. Discover how the trails they traveled became more than a physical experience, but a symbolic connection on a path to greater understanding.

WNPA Stage (Seats 146)  View this venue on the Festival map
Sun, Mar 10, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Nature / Environment
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - National Parks (following presentation)  View this venue on the Festival map

Panelists: Suzanne Roberts, Tom Zoellner
Moderator: Wendy Lotze
Tom Zoellner
"Rim to River: Looking Into the Heart of Arizona"

Border Community Alliance, Booth #264 (Seats 1)  View this venue on the Festival map
Sun, Mar 10, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Travel

Author: Tom Zoellner
Tom Zoellner
Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona Tom Zoellner walked across the length of Arizona to come to terms with his home state. But the trip revealed more mountains behind the mountains. Rim to River is the story of this extraordinary journey through redrock country, down canyons, up mesas, and across desert plains to the obscure valley in Mexico that gave the state its enigmatic name. The trek is interspersed with incisive essays that pick apart the distinctive cultural landscape of Arizona: the wine-colored pinnacles and complex spirituality of Navajoland, the mind-numbing stucco suburbs, desperate border crossings, legislative skullduggery, extreme politics, billion-dollar copper ventures, dehydrating rivers, retirement kingdoms, old-time foodways, ghosts of old wars, honky-tonk dreamers, murder mysteries, and magical Grand Canyon reveries. In Rim to River, Zoellner does for Arizona what Larry McMurtry did for Texas in In a Narrow Grave and what Wallace Stegner did for Utah in Mormon Country: paint an enduring portrait of a misunderstood American state. An indictment, a love letter, and a homecoming story all at once.

The University of Arizona Press, Booth #242 (Seats 1)  View this venue on the Festival map
Sun, Mar 10, 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Southwest Books of the Year

Author: Tom Zoellner
Distinctively Arizona
Arizona is a magnet for stereotypes, which does a disservice to the complexity and diversity of its history and lesser-known byways. In this session, you're invited to explore the eclectic character of Bisbee, follow the state's Arizona Trail, and learn about the rich and troubled history of Ira Hayes, an Arizona native who famously helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima.

UA Library/Special Collections (Seats 110)  View this venue on the Festival map
Sun, Mar 10, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Southwest Books of the Year
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Integrated Learning Center (following presentation)  View this venue on the Festival map

Panelists: Virgil Hancock III, Tom Holm, Tom Zoellner
Moderator: Mark Athitakis
Discovering Arizona
Are you interested in exploring the Grand Canyon State? These three authors have been there and done that. What is more, they love talking about it, and will be happy to recommend their favorite places to hike and explore.

Student Union Santa Rita (Seats 110)  View this venue on the Festival map
Sun, Mar 10, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Multigenre
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - UA BookStore Tent (on Mall) (following presentation)  View this venue on the Festival map

Panelists: Chels Knorr, Roger Naylor, Tom Zoellner
Moderator: Kelly Vaughn

Books:
Rim to River
Looking into the Heart of Arizona
Nature / Environment
University of Arizona Press
February 2024
ISBN 9780816553280
376 pages
Buy now

The National Road
Dispatches from a Changing America
Memoir / Essays / Creative Nonfiction
Counterpoint Press
November 2021
ISBN 9781640094932
272 pages
$16.95
Buy now