Event Category: Online Book Panel or Reading

Carolyn Niethammer Online with Borderlands Literature and Film Circle

Date: May 13, 2026

Time: 10 a.m., MST

Place: online, click here to register for link

Carolyn Niethammer will talk about her book A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson’s Culinary Heritage online on May 13 with the Borderlands Literature and Film Circle. Niethammer learned to love and understand the West growing up in small-town northern Arizona. She has spent her life writing about the foods and people of the Southwest in award-winning ethnobotanies, cookbooks, and biographies. She leads Tucson gastronomy tours covering everything from edible wild plants to the latest farm-to-table restaurant offerings with heritage ingredients. This online presentation is free, with suggested donation of $10, register here for link.

About the book:

Drawing on thousands of years of foodways, Tucson cuisine blends the influences of Indigenous, Mexican, mission-era Mediterranean, and ranch-style cowboy food traditions. This book offers a food pilgrimage, where stories and recipes demonstrate why the desert city of Tucson became American’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

Both family supper tables and the city’s trendiest restaurants feature native desert plants and innovative dishes incorporating ancient agricultural staples. Award-winning writer Carolyn Niethammer deliciously shows how the Sonoran Desert’s first farmers grew tasty crops that continue to influence Tucson menus and how the arrival of Roman Catholic missionaries, Spanish soldiers, and Chinese farmers influenced what Tucsonans ate.

Ann Hedlund at Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society in Tucson

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Time: 7-8:30 p.m., MST

Where: San Pedro Chapel, 5230 Ft. Lowell Rd., Tucson, AZ

Also available on Zoom, register here

Ann Lane Hedlund, author of Mac Schweitzer: A Southwest Maverick and Her Art, will give an illustrated talk at the San Pedro Chapel in Tucson. Her talk is titled “Mac Schweitzer: A Mid-century Tucson Artist and Her Southwestern Anthropology Connections.” The event is sponsored by the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society. Hedlund is a cultural anthropologist who collaborates with visual artists, including contemporary Indigenous weavers. She is an internationally-recognized expert on historic and modern textiles from the American Southwest. From 1997 to 2013 she served as a curator at Arizona State Museum and professor at University of Arizona, Tucson, where she also directed the nonprofit Center for Tapestry Studies. This hybrid event is in-person, and also available on Zoom (register here). No pre-registration is required for in-person attendance.

About the book:

In Tucson during the 1950s, nearly everyone knew, or wanted to know, the southwestern artist Mac Schweitzer. Born Mary Alice Cox in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1921, she grew up a tomboy who adored horses, cowboys, and art. After training at the Cleveland School of Art and marrying, she adopted her maiden initials (M. A. C.) as her artistic name and settled in Tucson in 1946. With a circle of influential friends that included anthropologists, designer-craftsmen, and Native American artists, she joined Tucson’s “Early Moderns,” receiving exhibits, commissions, and awards for her artwork. When she died in 1962, Mac’s artistic legacy faded from public view, but her prize-winning works attest to a thriving career.

Author Ann Lane Hedlund draws from the artist’s letters, photo albums, and published reviews to tell the story of Mac’s creative and adventuresome life. Her watercolors, oil paintings, prints, and sculptures—a diverse body of work never before seen in public—range from naturalistic studies of Sonoran Desert animals to impressionistic landscapes to moody abstractions.

Pablo Zavala Online with the Mexican Studies Research Collective

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Time: 3-4 p.m., CDT

Pablo Zavala, author of Forging a Mexican People: Collective Subjectivities in Postrevolutionary Print Culture, 1917–1968, will join the Mexican Studies Research Collective for an online talk about his book, which offers a new lens on conceptions of the Mexican state and the people. Zavala is an assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American studies and director of the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (CLAXS) at Loyola University. He has published in Southwest Philosophical Studies, Chasqui, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas, and A Contracorriente: Una revista de estudios latinoamericanos.

The event is free and open to the public, and the link to register for the online talk can be found here.

About the book:

Forging a Mexican People shows how illustrated print culture helped to construct and deconstruct versions of “a people” in postrevolutionary Mexico.

Through meticulous research, Pablo Zavala uncovers the ways photographers, graphic artists, writers, and activists used print culture to challenge hegemonic conceptions of state-guided narratives and forge alternative collective subjectivities. This book offers a fresh perspective on the sociopolitical landscape of postrevolutionary Mexico, revealing how cultural artifacts simultaneously crafted and reflected the people vis-à-vis different political and social categories. By examining print culture, editorial practices, and related processes such as the creation, consumption, and distribution of said culture, Zavala’s research contributes to scholarship that has recently reexamined the construction of nationalism by moving away from the focus on state formation and addressing the horizontal and aesthetic dimensions in products by cultural producers from nonstate and grassroots political sectors.

Arizona Author Series Presents Carolyn Niethammer

When: Thursday, May 11, 1 p.m.

Where: On Zoom

Carolyn Niethammer will present a talk about her book A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson’s Culinary Heritage, as part of the State of Arizona Research Library’s 2023 Arizona Author Series. Attendees are encouraged to register to receive the link to the presentation (scroll to bottom of the page). After the talk, there will be time for questions from the audience.

Tucson cuisine combines the influences and foodways of Indigenous, Mexican, mission-era Mediterranean, and ranch-style cowboy traditions into something wholly unique to the desert. It is no wonder, then, that Tucson became American’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy. In A Desert Feast, Carolyn Niethammer honors this history and shows how waves of immigrants, travelers, and settlers have shaped this confluence of flavors and techniques to create food that smells and tastes unlike anything else. In this book, she interviews farmers, chefs, families, and entrepreneurs who are dedicated to preserving and expanding Tucson cuisine.

Author David Martínez in Amerind Free Online Talk

Date: Thursday, February 12, 2026

Time: 12-1 p.m., MST

Place: Register for Zoom link

David Martínez, author of My Heart is Bound Up with Them: How Carlos Montezuma Became the Voice of a Generation gives a free online talk, “Our Elder Brother Dwells There: How I’itoi Ki Moved from Mountain Peak to Basket Design” presented by the Amerind Foundation. The event is free and open to the public. David Martínez (Akimel O’odham/Hia-ced O’odham/Mexican) is a Professor of American Indian Studies and Transborder Studies, at Arizona State University. In this event, Martinez discusses I’itoi, Elder Brother, who taught O’odham how to live well in their desert homelands, where his home, his kih, is located, according to oral tradition, and how the symbol of this home, I’itoi kih, started appearing in O’odham baskets more than a century ago.

About the book:

Carlos Montezuma is well known as an influential Indigenous figure of the turn of the twentieth century. While some believe he was largely interested only in enabling Indians to assimilate into mainstream white society, Montezuma’s image as a staunch assimilationist changes dramatically when viewed through the lens of his Yavapai relatives at Fort McDowell in Arizona.

Through his diligent research and transcription of the letters archived in the Carlos Montezuma Collection at Arizona State University Libraries, David Martínez offers a critical new perspective on Montezuma’s biography and legacy. During an attempt to force the Fort McDowell Yavapai community off of their traditional homelands north of Phoenix, the Yavapai community members and leaders wrote to Montezuma pleading for help. It was these letters and personal correspondence from his Yavapai cousins George and Charles Dickens, as well as Mike Burns that sparked Montezuma’s desperate but principled desire to liberate his Yavapai family and community—and all Indigenous people—from the clutches of an oppressive Indian Bureau.

Stephanie M. Crumpton in Virtual Presentation

Date: Friday, October 3, 2025

Time: 1- 2:30 p.m., EDT

Place: Virtual event presented by Auburn Theological Seminary, register here

Rev. Dr. Stephanie M. Crumpton will talk about her new book, We Gon’ Be Alright: Resistance and Healing in Black Movement Spaces, 2012–2021, on October 3. in a virtual presentation. All those who register will receive a copy of her book; tickets are $23.18. Two-for-one tickets are available; visit the registration page, and the discount will automatically be applied. The talk is presented as part of the Dean’s lecture series at Auburn Theological Seminary. A scholar, teacher and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Crumpton is the Associate Professor of Practical Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary where she is also the director of the Trauma Healing Initiative. She leads THI’s mission to cultivate a prepared community of learners and educators who take their knowledge, experience and practical skills for trauma informed and healing centered restoration into communities dealing with the impact of trauma.

About the book:

We Gon’ Be Alright is a profound exploration of Black activism and organizing during a pivotal decade in American history. Crumpton explores the practices of care, reflection, and creativity that Black activists employed to heal and resist amidst the sociopolitical turbulence from the Obama era through the first Trump presidency. This period, marked by the myth of a “post-racial” America, saw a resurgence in racial violence and hate crimes, culminating in the 2021 Capitol insurrection. Against this backdrop, Crumpton captures the resilience and ingenuity of Black movement workers as they navigated these challenges.

Drawing on oral histories and personal narratives, Crumpton provides an intimate look at the lived experiences of thirty-seven full-time community organizers. These activists and organizers share their strategies for maintaining an ethic of care that sustains them while fighting against both external oppression and internal community struggles.

Tim Z. Hernandez in Virtual Event

Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Time: 10:00-11:30 a.m., MST

Where: via Zoom

Tim Z. Hernandez will be interviewed and talk about his two books, All They Will Call you and They Call You Back: A Lost History, A Search, A Memoir as part of the Borderlands Literature and Film Circle. Tim Z. Hernandez is an award-winning author, research scholar, and performer. His books include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Book Award. His work has been featured in international media, and in 2018 he was recognized by the California Senate for his work locating the victims of the 1948 plane wreck at Los Gatos, which is chronicled in his book, All They Will Call You.

The event is free, but with at $10 suggested donation. Register here to receive a Zoom link.

About the books:

All They Will Call You is the harrowing account of “the worst airplane disaster in California’s history,” which claimed the lives of thirty-two passengers, including twenty-eight Mexican citizens—farmworkers who were being deported by the U.S. government. Outraged that media reports omitted only the names of the Mexican passengers, American folk icon Woody Guthrie penned a poem that went on to become one of the most important protest songs of the twentieth century, “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee).” It was an attempt to restore the dignity of the anonymous lives whose unidentified remains were buried in an unmarked mass grave in California’s Central Valley. For nearly seven decades, the song’s message would be carried on by the greatest artists of our time, including Pete Seeger, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez, yet the question posed in Guthrie’s lyrics, “Who are these friends all scattered like dry leaves?” would remain unanswered—until now.

In They Call You Back: A Lost History, A Search, A Memoir, Hernandez continues his search for the plane crash victims while also turning the lens on himself and his ancestral past, revealing the tumultuous and deeply intimate experiences that have fueled his investigations—a lifelong journey haunted by memory, addiction, generational trauma, and the spirit world. They Call You Back is the true chronicle of one man’s obsession to restore dignity to an undignified chapter in America’s past, while at the same time making a case for why we must heal our personal wounds if we are ever to heal our political ones.

Cynthia Radding in Virtual Arizona History Event

Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Time: 12 p.m., MST

Where: Arizona Historical Society virtual event

Cynthia Radding, author of Bountiful Deserts: Sustaining Indigenous Worlds in Northern New Spain, will speak on “Spiritual Geographies and Imperial Borderlands in the Sonoran Desert,” as part of the Arizona Historical Society’s summer history talks. This summer, the series focuses on the Spanish period in Arizona. The event is free, but donations are welcome at registration. Register here for this virtual event.

About the book:

Bountiful Deserts foregrounds the knowledge of Indigenous peoples in the arid lands of northwestern Mexico, for whom the desert was anything but barren or empty. Instead, they nurtured and harvested the desert as a bountiful and sacred space. Drawing together historical texts and oral testimonies, archaeology, and natural history, author Cynthia Radding develops the relationships between people and plants and the ways that Indigenous people sustained their worlds before European contact through the changes set in motion by Spanish encounters, highlighting the long process of colonial conflicts and adaptations over more than two centuries. This work reveals the spiritual power of deserts by weaving together the cultural practices of historical peoples and contemporary living communities, centered especially on the Yaqui/Yoeme and Mayo/Yoreme.

Ken Lamberton Santa Cruz River Virtual Event

Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Time: 10:00-11:30 a.m., MST

Where: Online via Zoom, register here

Ken Lamberton will speak about his book, Dry River: Stories of Life, Death, and Redemption on the Santa Cruz, at a virtual event hosted by the Borderlands Literature & Film Circle. Lamberton holds degrees in biology and creative writing from the University of Arizona and lives with his wife in a 1890s stone cottage near Bisbee. The event is free, but the suggested donation is $10. Register to receive Zoom link.

About the book:

Ken Lamberton finds his way through a lifetime of exploring southern Arizona’s Santa Cruz River. This river—dry, still, and silent one moment, a thundering torrent of mud the next—serves as a reflection of the desert around it: a hint of water on parched sand, a path to redemption across a thirsty landscape.

With his latest book, Lamberton takes us on a trek across the land of three nations—the United States, Mexico, and the Tohono O’odham Nation—as he hikes the river’s path from its source and introduces us to people who draw identity from the river—dedicated professionals, hardworking locals, and the author’s own family. These people each have their own stories of the river and its effect on their lives, and their narratives add immeasurable richness and depth to Lamberton’s own astute observations and picturesque descriptions.

“Mujeres de Maiz en Movimiento” Editors at LA Times Festival of Books

Date: Saturday, April 26, 2025

Time: 4:45-5:15 p.m., PDT

Where: De Los Stage, University of Southern California, 850 W 37th St, Los Angeles, CA

Felicia ‘Fe’ Montes, one of the editors of Mujeres de Maiz en Movimiento: Spiritual Artivism, Healing Justice, and Feminist Praxis will speak at the Los Angeles Festival of Books panel “Protecting Your Wellbeing Today & Tomorrow.” The panel highlights inter-generational healing. After the panel at 5:15 p.m., Fe will sign books with her co-editor Nadia Zepeda at the La Liberia Booth. Amber Rose González is the third editor of the book. All book festival events are free and open to the public.

About the book:

Founded in 1997, Mujeres de Maiz (MdM) is an Indigenous Xicana–led spiritual artivist organization and movement by and for women and feminists of color. Chronicling its quarter-century-long herstory, this collection weaves together diverse stories with attention to their larger sociopolitical contexts. The book crosses conventional genre boundaries through the inclusion of poetry, visual art, testimonios, and essays.

MdM’s political-ethical-spiritual commitments, cultural production, and everyday practices are informed by Indigenous and transnational feminist of color artistic, ceremonial, activist, and intellectual legacies.

The University of Arizona Press