SBS Faculty to Showcase Their Work at Tucson Festival of Books 2025

The Tucson Festival of Books, a beloved annual book fair founded in 2009, has become a tradition for many Tucson residents and non-residents alike. With its featured authors and presenters, the festival promotes literacy across all age groups. This year, the festival is Mar. 15-16 on the University of Arizona Mall. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is pleased to feature several faculty members who will speak on panels and participating at press booths to sign their books.

Melani Martinez, senior lecturer in the Department of English, is the author of The Molino, a memoir of poems, essays, and remembrances that reflect her family’s downtown Tucson tamaleria, El Rapido, which was open for 67 years before it closed in 2000. Her work is featured in various publications and journals, including Fourth Genre, BorderLore, Telling Tongues: A Latin Anthology on Language Experiences, and Contemporary Chicanx Writers Anthology. 

Saturday
10:00 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. Panel: Entrelazados: Our Family Histories - Nuestras Racíces Stage
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Border Community Alliance, Booth #256

Sunday
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. University of Arizona Press, Booth #244.
2:30 p.m. – 3:25 p.m. Panel: SW Books of the Year, Food and Memory - U of A Library, Special Collections

Farid Matuk, associate professor and director of the MFA Creative Writing program in the Department of English, is the author of Moon Mirrored Indivisible, Redolent, The Real Horse, This Is a Nice Neighborhood, and My Daughter La Chola. 

Saturday
1:00 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. Panel: Poetics of Place - Student Union, Kiva Room

Sunday
4:00 p.m. - 4:55 p.m. Panel: Acts of Defiance - Student Union, Kiva Room

Cristina D. Ramirez, professor and head of the Department of English, is the author of three books, including A Story of Stories: The Texas Border Barrio Life and Writings of Doña Ramona González. Her book Occupying Our Space: The Mestiza Rhetorics of Mexican Women Journalists and Activists, 1887–1942 won the 2016 Winifred Bryan Horner Outstanding Book Prize. She also published Mestiza Rhetorics: An Anthology of Mexicana Activism in the Spanish Language Press, 1875–1922.

Saturday
1:00 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. Workshop: Family Histories - Integrated Learning Center, Room 119
4:00 p.m. - 4:55 p.m. Panel: Border Near and Far - Nuestras Racíces Stage

Christopher Cokinos, professor emeritus in the Department of English, has won numerous awards for his work. His book Still as Bright: A Backyard Journey through the Natural and Human History of the Moon, has been featured in venues including a Kirkus starred review, Booklist, Sky & Telescope, Planetary Radio, and The Space Show.

Saturday
2:30 p.m. - 3:25 p.m. Panel: Wonders in the Night - Science City, Main Stage

Sunday
1:00 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. Panel: Night Sky panel - U of A Library, Special Collections

Allison Hawthorne Deming, Regents Professor of english and former director of the Poetry Center, is the author of Blue Flax & Yellow Mustard Flower and the poetry collection Stairway to Heaven. Hawthorne Deming is the recipient of various honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, multiple National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and the Walt Whitman Award.

Saturday
2:30 p.m. - 3:25 p.m. Panel: What is Ecopoetry? - Student Union, Kiva Room

Sunday
4:00 p.m. - 4:55 p.m. Panel: Acts of Defiance - Student Union, Kiva Room

Tom Holm, professor emeritus in the Department of American Indian Studies, has received numerous awards for his teaching and mentoring. In 2024, the University of New Mexico Press published his third Hoolie Smith mystery novel, Panther Creek: A Pawnee Country Mystery.

Saturday
11:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m. Panel: Workshop: Native American Storytelling - Integrated Learning Center, Room 125AB

Sunday
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Panel: Amplifying Indigenous Voices - University of New Mexico Press, Booth #215

Gary Paul Nabhan, research social scientist emeritus and W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Southwest Borderlands Food and Water Security at the Southwest Center, is a celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and advocate for preserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity — all issues explored in his latest book, Against the American Grain.

Saturday
1:00 p.m.- 1:55 p.m. Panel: The Borderlands - U of A Library, Special Collections
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. University of New Mexico Press, Booth #215

Abby Limmer, assistant director of outreach in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, also serves on the Middle East Outreach Council’s national board. 

Sunday
1:00 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. Panel: Teaching about the Middle East with Award-Winning Books - Education Room 333