Book festival awards $150,000 to fund projects

By Carmen Duarte, Arizona Daily Star / September 9, 2010

Carlos Torrealba, middle, a visiting professor from Venezuela who is doing research on literacy, helps his nephew, Santiago Pérez, left, a student visiting from Venezuela, show Diego Alvarez, 6, illustrations in a book. More photos »» / Photo by Samantha Sais, Arizona Daily Star

Founders of the Tucson Festival of Books outlined plans for the spring event, and presented a check for $150,000 to fund local literacy projects at Tucson's International Literacy Day Celebration on Wednesday.

"The 2010 Tucson Festival of Books in only its second year has become the largest literary event ever held in Arizona, and is now one of the largest in the country," said John M. Humenik, publisher and editor of the Arizona Daily Star, a sponsor of the event.

Last year's festival "attracted more than 80,000 people to the University of Arizona campus and gave our community a chance to shine with a nationally recognized book event," Humenik said. "Our continuing vision is for this event to benefit literacy efforts in Southern Arizona."

Best-selling author Jennifer Lee Carrell, who wrote "Haunt Me Still" and "The Shakespeare Curse," said the festival brings a community of authors together to get to know each other and their fans. "Thanks for putting us and keeping us on the literary map ... and fostering new generations of readers," Carrell said.

The festival is made possible through the support of businesses, nonprofit organizations and more than 1,200 volunteers, said Brenda Viner, who along with her husband, Bill, are also founders of the event.

The festival has raised $350,000 to fund literacy programs. Its recipients are Literacy for Life Coalition, Reading Seed Children's Literacy Program and UA Outreach Programs. This year each was awarded $50,000, Bill Viner said.

The celebration was held in the Peace Garden at Manuel Herrera Jr. Park in a neighborhood south of West Drexel Road and east of South 12th Avenue. It was sponsored by groups including the Sunnyside Literacy Council, Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and Pima Community College Adult Education.

Children tasted ethnic foods and enjoyed books in English, Spanish, Chinese and French at exhibits shared by community groups and students from the UA College of Eduction.

Among those celebrating were PCC Adult Education student Elizabeth Pino, 41, and Dorothy Pallanes, 7, of Miller Elementary School.

After a 1999 car crash left Pino with severe brain injuries, she described how the Family Literacy Program brought her out of a deep depression. She now is a council representative at her children's school and an AmeriCorps service volunteer working as a literacy tutor. She plans to enroll at PCC to become a social worker.

Dorothy plans to keep on reading books, including her favorite - "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" - because "I like the excitement of reading and about finding out what is going to happen next."

Reprinted with permission of the Arizona Daily Star