Tucson Festival of Books 2013

Tucson Festival of Books 2013

The UA Campus played host again this spring to the annual Tucson Festival of Books. This year's event, the fifth annual festival, was held March 9-10, 2013; the event was a huge success despite some wild spring weather at the start.

LPL faculty, staff, and graduate students participated in the festival as part of the UA ScienceCity, located on the UA mall directly in front of the Kuiper Space Sciences building. Highlights of the LPL events included OSIRIS-REx staff and ambassadors describing the mission and talking about meteorites and impact cratering. Also featured was Assistant Professor Tamara Rogers, who presented an informal talk on "Mysteries of the Sun: What We Know and What We're Learning." This opportunity for outreach was greatly facilitated with volunteer staffing from the College of Science community volunteers.

The Tucson Festival of Books is free and open to the public. It has become one of the most anticipated and well attended book fairs in the U.S., attracting approximately 100,00 attendees, 450 authors, and 300 exhibitors.

Christa Van Laerhoven talks asteroids, with Ross Dubois.

Dolores Hill is all about meteorites. Photo courtesy Melodye Farmer.

OREx Ambassador Jonna Alley and a young scientist.

OREx Ambassadors busy with an interested visitor. Photo courtesy Melodye Farmer.

Dolores Hill, Catherine Elder, and Anna Spitz at the meteorite table.

Photo courtesy Melodye Farmer.

Maria Schuchardt demonstrates impact cratering.

The OREx table featured the Women in Planetary Science project.