A program of The Place & Page
Tucson Reads
One story, a shared experience.
Remember the season finale everyone talked about the next morning? Tucson Reads does that with a book. Once a year, people all over Tucson experience the same story, each in our own way, and then come together across the city to compare reactions.
However you read: in print, on a screen, or by listening. Borrow it, buy it, or pass it along.
How it works
An intentionally mixed panel of five Tucson readers chooses the book within published criteria.
Everyone reads it over the same weeks, however they like to read.
Talk about it with anyone you like: friends, coworkers, your book club. No sign-up needed. A free discussion guide will be available.
The season closes with a public Community Conversation, open to everyone.
This season’s book will be announced in January; the Community Conversation will take place in late February.
Want to make your discussion group official? It’s optional and free. Once the book is announced, groups can register as Tucson Reads Tables, open to others or kept to your own circle. Sign up below and we’ll send the details in January.
Hear when the book is announced
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This season’s panel
Five Tucson readers with different relationships to books, and one vote each. Together they bring the views of people who work with books professionally, people who help others who don’t find books easily, people active in Tucson’s civic and cultural life, and everyday readers who don’t work with books.
Shannon Baker
Shannon Baker writes the Kate Fox mystery series. A Tucson resident, she’s won the Arizona/New Mexico Book Award and is a two-time recipient of Writer of the Year from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.
Nate Erwin
Nate Erwin is a Tucson reader who gets through about 30 books a year, across many genres, a habit inspired by his parents’ love of literature. When he isn’t reading in a café, he’s at the movies or in a dance class.
Rikki Mioduski
Rikki Mioduski is a voracious reader from Tucson who loves everything from mysteries and suspense to lighthearted comedies and nonfiction. She’s open to trying any book once, but isn’t afraid to close it when it doesn’t capture her interest.
Judi Moreillon
Judi Moreillon is an author of children’s and young adult books and author/editor of professional books for educators. A literacy consultant, a former school librarian, and retired librarian educator, she advocates for literacy for all and the equitable access to ideas and information.
Logan Phillips
Logan Phillips serves as Tucson Poet Laureate and is the author of Reckon (University of Arizona Press, 2026).
The book doesn’t need to be about Tucson.
The conversation belongs to Tucson.
How the book is chosen
The aim is one book that people across Tucson will want to read, can finish in the reading weeks and will want to talk about. Books of any genre can qualify, and the choice is made with the whole city in mind, from people who read every day to people who rarely pick up a book or listen to one.
The Place & Page screens a field of books against published requirements: capped in price, free to borrow from the library, and short enough to finish. The panel narrows four candidates to two, reads both, and chooses one by private ballot. The Place & Page can remove a book only if it fails a requirement, never for taste.
The full criteria
The Place & Page researches 20 to 25 books, including titles the panelists suggest, screens them against the requirements below, and brings four to the panel. Each panelist has one equal vote and votes as an individual, not on behalf of any organization. Ballots and discussions stay private. If the chosen book fails a requirement after the vote, the other finalist becomes the book.
First, every book must
- Be in print and cost $30 or less new.
- Be available to borrow from the public library in print and in at least one other format (e-book or audiobook), with any missing format available for libraries to order, so no one has to buy it to take part.
- Run no more than 350 pages, not counting introductions and back matter, so people reading at a wide range of paces can finish it.
- Be a book for general readers, not a children’s book.
Then, the panel weighs
- Whether someone who reads only now and then can get into it from the first pages.
- Whether the story or voice keeps people turning pages.
- Whether people can finish it comfortably in the reading weeks, given its length and pace.
- Whether it speaks across generations, backgrounds and reading habits.
- Whether it’s easy to get: price, library formats, copies and wait times, large print, and Spanish editions.
- Whether it’s fresh here, regardless of when it was published: not already widely read, and not from an earlier Tucson community read.
- Whether it suits a citywide read and a public conversation, rather than only private reading.
- Whether it’s worth talking about, and people will disagree about it in good ways.
- Whether any debate it sparks will be about its ideas, rather than becoming the story itself.
What doesn’t count
- Bestseller lists and awards earn a book no points. They count only as evidence of how widely a book has already been read.
- Panelists’ own books are never candidates, and a panelist sits out any book where they have a conflict of interest.
Our promises
No purchase is required. Borrow it, share it, listen to it, or buy it wherever you choose.
Anyone can take part, and no registration is required. Registering your group as a Table, open or private, is optional and free; it gets your group a host kit and helps us see how far the book travels.
A panel of Tucson readers chooses the book. It decides within published criteria. The Place & Page uses only the published requirements and criteria, never its own taste, and no one can pay to influence the choice.
Your information is used only for what you sign up for. Privacy Policy
Questions
How can I get the book?
However works for you: borrow it from the library or from a friend, or buy it from any bookseller you like, in print, as an e-book, or as an audiobook. You don’t need to buy it to take part.
Who chooses the book?
A panel of five Tucson readers, named on this page. The Place & Page builds the field of candidates, checks each one against the published requirements and brings four to the panel; the panel chooses.
Is it only for serious readers?
No. It’s for everyone who reads, and anyone who’d like to.
Do I have to finish the book to join the conversation?
No. Come anyway; just expect spoilers.
Do we have to register to talk about the book?
No. Talk about it with anyone, anywhere. Registering your group as a Table is free: you get a host kit, you can open your Table so others can join or keep it to your own group, and every registered Table, open or private, helps us see how far the book travels. Registration opens when the book is announced.
Do I have to live in Tucson?
No. The conversation belongs to Tucson, but anyone can read along, and an online Table can bring in people from anywhere.
Is this a one-time thing?
No. Each year, Tucson Reads picks one book for Tucson to read together and closes the season with a public Community Conversation. Citywide reads like that have come to Tucson a few times since 2002, but none returned year after year.
Who runs Tucson Reads?
Tucson Reads is a program of The Place & Page, which founded it in 2026.
Questions about Tucson Reads:
tucsonreads@theplaceandpage.com