If you are a book lover as I am, you would have been thrilled right to your toenails if you had been on the campus of The University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ over this past weekend. Thousands of people just like us came out to enjoy the 7^th annual Tucson Festival of Books – the fourth largest book festival in the country, after Washington D.C., Miami and Los Angeles.

With hundreds of authors and workshops, booths galore, a block long science section, a children’s world, C-Span and the Penguin Bookmobile, U of A’s sunny and breezy mall was transformed into a book lover’s party. Writers, readers, educators, publishers, agents, autograph-seekers, and thousands of volunteers found new inspirations and old favorites, from internationally renowned writers like Gail Sheehey, Joyce Carol Oates, Amy Tan and Noam Chomsky to favorite regional authors such as J.A. Jance and Nancy Turner.

I had a ball delivering my workshop on Memoir Writing. Unfortunately, the reserved room was too small and some folks had to be turned away. But the 75 people who managed to get a seat seemed to enjoy the presentation.

The next Tucson Festival of Books is scheduled for March 12 & 13 in 2016. Mark your calendar now!