CPP at TUCSON BOOK FESTIVAL, Booth 26

Yup, we’ll be at the Tucson Book Festival, Booth 26, this Saturday and Sunday (March 13th and 14th) at the University of Arizona. Last year, the first annual, was lots of fun. This year promises to be even better. Cactus Mary Fountaine and co-publisher Bobby Byrd will be at the booth. And three Cinco Puntos Authors will be featured—Tom Miller, Luis Alberto Urrea and Tim Tingle. Below, in alphabetical order, are their performance schedules along with their new Cinco Puntos books. Check final time schedules on the Tucson Book Festival schedule the day of the event.

Tom Miller

Tom’s newest release is Revenge of the Saguaro: Offbeat Travels Through America’s Southwest just out last month from Cinco Puntos Press. He is the author of Trading With the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro’s Cuba, The Panama Hat Trail and On the Border.

Tom will be interviewing Luis Alberto Urrea (see below) on Saturday 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. in the Student Union Gallagher Theater.

He will also be on a panel discussing “The US-Mexico Border: Living and Writing on the Edge” which will broadcast live on C-SPAN on Saturday, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. in the Student Union Gallagher Theater

And Tom will be having a conversation with Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Both McMurtry and Ossana are Academy-Award winning screenwriters and best-selling authors. They will discuss the ups and downs in their storied writing careers. The panel is Sunday, 11:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m., in the Student Union - Ballroom South.

Tim Tingle   

Tim Tingle will be celebrating his new illustrated book, Saltypie, A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light that was so ably illustrated by Choctaw artist Karen Clarkson. Tim is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He performs lively historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the American Indian flute. He has completed 11 storytelling tours for the U.S. Department of Defense in Germany and has performed at the National Storytelling Festival. He will be working hard at the book festival.

Writing Fiction From Life Events: A Writing Workshop (Ages 12-Adult). In this interactive workshop for ages 12 to adult, Tim will demonstrate methods of writing fiction based on turning-points in our lives and the lives around us. Participants will be invited to begin their own short story. Saturday 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., in the Education Building, Room 351.

Capturing the Audience: A Storytelling Workshop for Educators
Tim, who has performed in festivals throughout the U.S. and the world, will lead a workshop for educators on how to tell stories to children and to invite children into their own storytelling. Tim will also share how he tells historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the flute and singing Choctaw songs to the rhythm of a drum. Sun 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the Education Building - Room 333.

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom
The Mississippi Choctaws tell many long-remembered tales of aiding runaway slaves. This story depicts the friendship of a young Choctaw girl and a boy whose family lives in bondage, on the eve of the sale of his mother to faraway owners. This oral story is also available as an award-winning picture book. Saturday, 11:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. on the Storytelling Stage

Saltypie: Family Stories of Struggle and Hope. Tim will tell stories about his own family, particularly stories of his grandmother and the hardships she encountered as well as the joy of overcoming. Sunday at 11:30 a.m - 12:30 p.m. on the Storytelling Stage.

Luis Alberto Urrea 

To be delivered fresh from the printer at the Tucson Book Festival is Luis Urrea’s Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush—a hilarious coming of age story about a young man visiting his cousins in Rosario, Sinaloa. The story has been reborn as a graphic novel thanks to the magic of artist Christopher Cardinale. Luis is also the author of the national bestseller Devil’s Highway, a nonfiction account of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, which won the 2004 Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. And, if it’s great fiction you want, then there are his novels—the highly acclaimed The Hummingbird’s Daughter and Into the Beautiful North. Cinco Puntos is honored to have published three other books by Luis—a collection of short stories, Six Kinds of Sky, which is where “Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush” first appeared; Vatos, a collaboration of Luis’ poem (Luis calls it his “book of poem”) and photographs by Jose Galvez; and Ghost Sickness, a collection of his poetry which is now out of print.

Luis will be interviewed by Tom Miller on Sat 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the Student Union Gallagher Theater.

On Saturday, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m, he will present “Southwest Inspiration—A Workshop” in room 119 in the Integrated Learning Center.

And Luis will be back, Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for a Q&A Session on the Nuestras Raíces Performance Stage.