Event Category: Public Lecture

Celebrate with John Schaefer in Tucson

REGISTRATION IS NOW COMPLETE FOR THIS EVENT

Date:  Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Time: 4 – 6 p.m., MST

Place: Special Collections Reading Room, University of Arizona Libraries, 1510 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ. Registration is now complete for this event. If you have registered but are unable to attend the event, let us know via email to publicity@uapress.arizona.edu.

Join us to celebrate former University of Arizona president John P. Schaefer’s memoir, A Chance to Make a Difference. Schaefer will share stories from his fascinating life.

A book signing and reception will take place with books available for purchase. The event is sponsored by The University of Arizona Press and the University Libraries Special Collections.

The closest parking is at the Cherry Avenue Garage. More information is available on the Parking & Transportation Services webpage.

About the book:

A Chance to Make a Difference recounts poignant, eye-opening, and often humorous stories from childhood to presidency, revealing the characteristics of an inspiring university leader. John P. Schaefer was only thirty-six years old when he assumed the role of fifteenth president of the University of Arizona in 1971. The son of hardworking German immigrants, Schaefer grew up in Queens, New York, where childhood centered on sports, academics, and the great outdoors. Earning a PhD in chemistry in 1958, Dr. Schaefer’s career skyrocketed through the ranks of academia, moving him from junior faculty to university president in a mere decade. As president, he led the University of Arizona through a transformational period of growth and is credited with securing the university’s status as a top-tier research institution. 

About the author:
Watch the video to learn about Schaefer’s legacy at the university.

John P. Schaefer is president emeritus of the University of Arizona, where he had an active twenty-one-year career in teaching and research. A conservationist and avid birdwatcher, he helped organize the Tucson Audubon Society and found the Nature Conservancy in Arizona. In addition to his academic and conservation work, Dr. Schaefer is a skilled photographer. He is the author of several books on photography, including Desert Jewels: Cactus Flowers of the Southwest and Mexico. He and Ansel Adams founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in 1975. 

Rafael Martínez at Carleton College in Minnesota

Date: Monday, September 22, 2025

Time: 5:45 p.m., CST

Where: Olin 149 and Weitz Common Area, Carleton College, 320 Third Street East, Northfield, MN

Rafael Martínez will speak about his book Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States at Carleton College. Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of his book, and Martínez will be available to sign books. The free and open to the public event includes a reception. The event is sponsored in collaboration with the Carleton College Spanish department and Humanities Center.

About the book:

Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States takes readers on a journey through the history of the rise of undocumented youth social movements in the United States in the twenty-first century. The book follows the documentation trail of undocumented youth activists spanning over two decades of organizing. Each chapter carefully analyzes key organizing strategies used by undocumented youth to produce direct forms of activism that expose and critique repressive forms of state control and violence. This inquiry is particularly generative in relation to how immigrant bodies are erased, contained, and imagined as “aliens” or “illegal.”

Tim Z. Hernandez at Hay Festival in Dallas

Date: Sunday, October 19, 2025

Time: 5 p.m., CDT

Where: The Wild Detectives Bookstore, 314 W Eighth St, Dallas, TX

In the Hay Festival Dallas Forum session,  Tim Z. Hernandez answers the questions: How do we give voice to the forgotten? What does it mean to turn research into remembrance, and remembrance into literature?

Writer and poet Tim Z. Hernandez has dedicated his career to recovering stories lost to silence: tracing the unidentified victims of the 1948 Los Gatos plane crash in All They Will Call You, or reflecting on personal and collective survival in his most recent memoir They Call You Back. Blending lyrical precision with investigative urgency, Hernandez’s work lives at the intersection of art and archive, illuminating the lives of migrants, workers, and everyday people whose histories too often go unrecorded. This conversation will be moderated by Claudia Vega, founder of Whose Books in Dallas. The event is free and open to the public.

About All They Will Call You:

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.

About They Call You Back:

In this riveting new work, 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.

Arizona Friend Trips Author on Tour in Arizona

Friday, August 22, 10 a.m., Buckeye Fire Station Community Room

Tuesday, August 26, 6 p.m., Mesa Dobson Ranch Public Library

Saturday, August 30, 10:30 a.m., Sedona Community Library

Lisa Schnebly Heidinger, will share tales from Arizona’s highways and bi-ways that inspired the new book Arizona Friend Trips: Stories from the Road, at several Arizona libraries this month. Heidinger co-authored the book with Julie Morrison. The talks are part of the Arizona Great Reads from Great Places author tour, sponsored by the Arizona Center for the Book.  Heidinger was a television, newspaper, and magazine reporter covering all areas of the state and she has authored twelve books focused on Arizona.

Click on library names above for details about each event.

About the book:

Arizona Friend Trips is a celebration of friendship, discovery, and the enduring spirit of exploration. As Lisa and Julie share their favorite trips and formative experiences, readers are treated to an intimate glimpse into their lives, making this book a joyous and uplifting read for travelers and armchair explorers alike. Whether you’re planning your own Arizona adventure or simply yearning to wander from the comfort of home, Arizona Friend Trips promises to inspire, delight, and leave you longing for the open road.

 

Ann Hedlund in Scottsdale, AZ

Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025

Time: 6-7:30 p.m., MDT

Where: Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, 3830 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ

Ann Lane Hedlund, author of Mac Schweitzer: A Southwest Maverick and Her Art, will give an illustrated talk on how Schwetizer became an artist, what inspired her work, and what kind of creative experiments she pursued. The event is free and open to the public. After the presentation, the book will be available for purchase and signing by the author. This event is part of Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West’s exhibition of Mac Schweitzer’s work.

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.

 

Ann Hedlund on Panel in Scottsdale, AZ

Date: Thursday, November 20, 2025

Time: 6-8 p.m., MDT

Where: Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, 3830 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ

Moderator Andrew Nelson brings together Ann Lane Hedlund, author of Mac Schweitzer: A Southwest Maverick and Her Art, with two of her collaborators, Mark Bahti and Betsy Fahlman, for an exciting conversation about where artist Mac Schweitzer came from and how her work fits into the Western art world. The event is free and open to the public. After the presentation, the book will be available for purchase and signing by the author. This event is part of Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West’s exhibition of Mac Schweitzer’s work, which Hedlund curated. The event is free for Museum Members (Members, log-in first to reserve tickets), and free with Museum Admission. Tickets are $10 for just the program. Reserve a seat here.

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.

 

Patricia Gilman at Tumamoc Hill in Tucson

Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Time: 6 p.m., MST

Where: Tumamoc Hill Boathouse, 1675 W Anklam Rd, Tucson

Patricia A. Gilman, co-author with Mary E. Whisenhunt of Mimbres Far from the Heartland, will speak about the book on October 29 as part of the Tumamoc Author Series. Gilman takes us back 900 years when the Mimbres culture flourished in eastern Arizona. Mimbres culture is famous for its black-on-white pottery and large, compact pueblo villages. Gilman has done archaeological research in the Mimbres region of New Mexico and Arizona for more than fifty years. The author will be conversation with Linda Gregonis, co-author with Victoria Riley Evans of The Hohokam and Their World.

This talk will be held at the boathouse, at the base of Tumamoc Hill. The event is presented by Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, The University of Arizona Press, and The Southwest Center, and is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase, and the author will be available for signing following the talk. Reserve your spot here (not required but helps us know how many people to expect).

About the book:

This new work offers a unique investigation into the complexities of Mimbres identity and social dynamics beyond the traditional Mimbres Valley heartland. Situated at the western edge of the Mimbres region, the Powers Ranch site represents the only professionally excavated Classic period settlement in Arizona’s Gila River Valley. Through excavation and analysis of architecture and a rich array of artifacts, including ceramic sherds, projectile points, and shell artifacts, the authors provide a detailed look at the lives of Mimbres people on the periphery.

This work compares findings from Powers Ranch with those from neighboring sites in the Gila River Valley and further east in the Mimbres Valley, unraveling patterns of identity and affiliation that challenge previous understandings.

 

Amber McCrary in Window Rock, AZ

Date: Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Time: 5:30-7:00 p.m., MST

Where: Navajo Nation Main Library, Hwy 264 and Postal Loop Road, Window Rock, AZ

Amber McCrary author of Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of the Desert, will talk about her publishing journey at the Navajo Nation Main Library in Window Rock. She will talk about how she developed her own publishing company, created her own zines, and eventually published her poetry. The first twenty people to sign in will receive a free copy of Blue Corn Tongue! The event is free and open to the public and includes refreshments.

About the book:

In a voice that is jubilant, irreverent, sometimes scouring, sometimes heartfelt, and always unmistakably her own, Amber McCrary remaps the deserts of Arizona through the blue corn story of a young Diné woman figuring out love and life with an O’odham man. Reflecting experiences of Indigenous joy, pain, and family, these shapeshifting poems celebrate the love between two Native partners, a love that flourishes alongside the traumas they face in the present and the past. From her ethereal connection with her saguaro muse, Hosh, to the intricate tapestry of her relationships with Diné relatives and her awakening to the complex world of toxic masculinity, McCrary brings together DIY zine aesthetics, life forms of juniper and mountains, and the beauty of Diné Bizaad to tell of the enduring bonds between people and place.

Rick A. López in Amherst, MA

When: Tuesday, October 23, 2025

Time: 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Where: Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, 650 East Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA

Rick A. López celebrates his new book Rooted in Place: Botany, Indigeneity, and Art in the Construction of Mexican Nature, 1570–1914, with a seminar at the Kinney Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. This Five College Renaissance Seminar is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase. López is Anson D. Morse 1871 Professor of Latin American History and Environmental Studies at Amherst College.

About the book:

Since the first moment of conquest, colonizers and the colonized alike in Mexico confronted questions about what it meant to be from this place, what natural resources it offered, and who had the right to control those resources and on what basis.

Focusing on the ways people, environment, and policies have been affected by political boundaries, historian Rick A. López explores the historical connections between political identities and the natural world. López analyzes how scientific intellectuals laid claim to nature within Mexico, first on behalf of the Spanish Empire and then in the name of the republic, during three transformative moments: the Hernández expedition of the late sixteenth century; the Royal Botanical Expedition of the late eighteenth century; and the heyday of scientific societies such as the Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural of the late nineteenth century.

 

Amber McCrary in Phoenix

Date: Saturday, August 23, 2025

Time: 3-5 p.m., MST

Where: Arizona Humanities House, 1242 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ

Amber McCrary will read from and talk about her latest collection Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of the Desert, at the Arizona Humanities House in Phoenix. Blue Corn Tongue is the August book for the Reading Is Medicine Book Club. The event is free and open to the public.

The Reading Is Medicine Book Club recognizes that storytelling has always been a healing practice and that reading is good medicine, both individually and collectively. The Reading Is Medicine Book Club was established almost 10 years ago by Diné women, Bobbi Rose Nez and Tamara Littlesalt-Butler. The group meets bi-monthly to discuss book selections by Indigenous authors.

About the book:

In a voice that is jubilant, irreverent, sometimes scouring, sometimes heartfelt, and always unmistakably her own, Amber McCrary remaps the deserts of Arizona through the blue corn story of a young Diné woman figuring out love and life with an O’odham man. Reflecting experiences of Indigenous joy, pain, and family, these shapeshifting poems celebrate the love between two Native partners, a love that flourishes alongside the traumas they face in the present and the past. From her ethereal connection with her saguaro muse, Hosh, to the intricate tapestry of her relationships with Diné relatives and her awakening to the complex world of toxic masculinity, McCrary brings together DIY zine aesthetics, life forms of juniper and mountains, and the beauty of Diné Bizaad to tell of the enduring bonds between people and place.

For Authors

The University of Arizona Press publishes the work of leading scholars from around the globe. Learn more about submitting a proposal, preparing your final manuscript, and publication.

Inquire

Requests

The University of Arizona Press is proud to share our books with readers, booksellers, media, librarians, scholars, and instructors. Join our email Newsletter. Request reprint licenses, information on subsidiary rights and translations, accessibility files, review copies, and desk and exam copies.

Request

Support the Press

Support a premier publisher of academic, regional, and literary works. We are committed to sharing past, present, and future works that reflect the special strengths of the University of Arizona and support its land-grant mission.

Give