The Dirt: Let's Read About Water

Together with community partners, the University of Arizona invites Tucson citizens to find fellowship this spring in reading and discussing books about water – a theme that is ever-present in our desert lives.

UArizona is among other awardees to host the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read. From mid-January to a finale at the Tucson Festival of Books in early March, community members are invited to join public literary activities across the city, including projects, presentations, book discussions, and author appearances.

Big Read Tucson, presented by UArizona's College of Education and College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, aims to unite the community in experiencing the storylines of the same two books: Natalie Diaz's Postcolonial Love Poem, which explores the scarcity and spirituality of water, and an award-winning children's tale by Carol Lindstrom (Ojibwe), We Are Water Protectors.

The program is centered around the theme of water, "because of the importance of water to our region," said Sandra Soto, associate professor in UArizona's Department of Gender and Women's Studies, and one of the program's directors, along with Carol Brochin and Leah Durán, associate professors in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies, with coordinating by Kathy G. Short, director of the College of Education's Worlds of Words.

The many interactive events all aim to give participants firsthand experiences "with the imaginative power of literature and the pleasure of collective discussion," Durán said. With a theme of collective relevance, "our hope is to reach an expansive, intergenerational audience," Soto added. Read more >>