TUCSON, Ariz. — The Tucson Festival of Books kicks off this weekend, bringing hundreds of authors to the University of Arizona mall for panels, booths, discussions and presentations where you can learn all about their works.
A handful of those authors are local, like Richard Grant. Originally from London, he's been in Tucson for years now, working as a documentary film writer, a journalist and a New York Times best selling author.
He's won awards for many of his books, like the Southwest Book of the Year Award from the Pima County Public Library for "God's Middle Finger."
Now, he's coming to the festival with his book that focuses on Arizona, "A Race to the Bottom of Crazy."
"It's the story of my life and times in Arizona and moving back to Tucson with my family, and then there's an element of history," Grant explained. "I've got these little historical vignettes between chapters, just funny stories about Arizona history -- a lot of of them are funny stories, a lot of them are twisted stories, a lot of them are amazing stories. And then there's an aspect of reportage as well. Since I'm a journalist, I went to the world's largest machine gun shoot in Wikieup, Arizona (my ears are still a little ringy from that) and I went on a river cruise with Congressman Paul Gosar, and a big MAGA crew to get a better understanding of those folks, some militias."
While you can catch Grant at the Festival of Books, you can also check out his books at the Pima County Public Libraries, where they're constantly in high demand.
Claire Graham is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. She grew up in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in musical theatre. Claire spent a decade in Washington state, where she worked in journalism, met her husband and welcomed their baby boy, before moving back home. Share your story ideas and important issues with Claire by emailing claire.graham@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and X.
