Original photograph of Old Main by Deanna Dent / ASU Now. Other original photographs by NASA.
Saturday, February 22, 2020, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at ASU Tempe
Presented as a public extension of the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference in partnership with ASU Open Door, the Desert Nights, Rising Stars Literary Fair presents an afternoon of readings, panels, conversations, and performances from authors, publishers, and other literary organizations from all over the Southwest.
This year's fair takes place on Saturday, February 22, 2020 on the Front Lawn of Old Main on ASU Tempe (400 E Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ 82581). Exhibitors will be set up from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Talks, readings, and other featured programs will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
All fair events and activities are open to the public and free. You do not need to register for the conference in order to attend.
This year's exhibitors include the Arizona Professional Writers, Arizona State Poetry Society, Barrett Honors College, Bookmans, Brick Cave Media, Cardboard House Press, Cinthia Richie, Desert Botanical Garden, Dorothy Rice, Elizabeth Martina Bishop, Hayden's Ferry Review, Holum Press, Hoot n Waddle, Jeffrey Marshall, Jessica McCann, Karen Shiffman Lateiner, little somethings press, Northern Arizona University Creative Writing Program, Palabras Bilingual Bookstore, Poets and Muses, Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Queer Poetry Salon with Equality Arizona, Read Better Be Better, rinky dink press, Romance Writers of America Phoenix, Sandra Marinella, Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, Sonora Review, Superstition Review, Tanline Printing, Tolsun Books, University of Arizona Press, Warner House Press, & Write On, Downtown.
This year's schedule is:
To learn more about the fair, you can meet our exhibitors or view the fair schedule. You can also learn more about the conference.
Interested in exhibiting? Engage with over 30,000 community members and 300 attendees by becoming an exhibitor today!
What do editors truly want to discover and publish? Learn the do’s and don’t’s of submitting to literary journals with editors from Superstition Review and Hayden’s Ferry Review, two nationally-recognized literary journals based at ASU.
"Sometimes I talk a lot. Sometimes I don't. It's nice to sit at the table, hands busy, and let the conversation in flipping and shifting language just wash over and around me. Hard to pinpoint how, exactly, this heals. But it does. [ . . . ] The politics seem clear. These books are being written or were written in the past. We should read them." (Ryan's Testimony, Cartonera Collective Member)
Based in Airzona and Nevada, Tolsun Books is an independent, non-profit press publishing poetry, comics-poetry, short stories, hybrids, memoirs, photo stories, and other cool artistic book-type things. They're not fancy or formal. Their books look rad. See why they're putting the Southwest on the map with readings from Sarah Abigail Adleman, Angela M. Brommel, Michael Buckius, and Sarah Sala.
Alice Walker once said “Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness.” As the 2020 Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writer’s Conference draws to a close we hope that our attendees have shifted the ways in which they think about their writing and the power of their words. Whether you are a poet, a novelist, or are just beginning to choose a path, we want to send everyone off with a final celebration of writing as we hear from some of our most beloved poets laureates of the Southwest.
