ArtsLiteraryPerforming ArtsThe PHiXIllustrated Bar Flies, Vol. II: “Looking for Truth”
Craig OuthierApril 21, 2020
Our second Illustrated Bar Flies entry is Monica Aissa Martinez's “Looking for Truth.”
LiteraryThe PHiXRead It: Phoenix Television
Leah LeMoineJanuary 9, 2020
If you grew up watching The Wallace and Ladmo Show on Phoenix’s first TV station, Channel 5 (KPHO), Phoenix Television by Arizona State University media professor Dr. John E. Craft and PHOENIX magazine contributor Lisa Honebrink (Arcadia Publishing, $21.99) will stir nostalgia. If you didn’t, it will serve as an education on the history of the “boob tube” in our fair city, from KPHO to Univision Arizona. Craft and Honebrink hope the book will sustain a...
Read local with these books by Arizona authors.
LiteraryThe PHiXRead It: Deepest Blue
Leah LeMoineAugust 2, 2019
Read local with these books by Arizona authors.
LiteraryThe PHiXRead It: Safety First
Leah LeMoineJuly 3, 2019
Read local with these books by Arizona authors.
There might be many definitions of pocho or pocha, but for writer and actress Anna Flores, being pocha is her personal identity.
For many years, Cindy Wynn was a familiar face on stages around the Valley. More recently, she's turned to writing, without leaving her theatrical background behind: Under the name Cindy Brown, she's authored five mystery novels featuring the wacky actress-sleuth Ivy Meadows, starting with Macdeath in 2015 and continuing with The Sound of Murder, Oliver Twisted, and Ivy Get Your Gun.
Now living in Portland, Oregon, Brown will sign her most recent tome, The Phantom of Oz, on Tuesday, April 17 at 1 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre, the setting for the tale. Proceeds from the event will benefit Friends of the Orpheum Theatre.
LiteraryBorderlands Poetry: Living and Writing on the Mexican-American Line
Ofelia MontelongoMarch 30, 2018
The U.S.-Mexico border is always a hot topic. But these days, it seems more people than ever before have an opinion on "The Wall," or whether our borders need to be more open or more secure. Of course, most people come to these opinions via rogue social media posts rather than real-life experience living on the line. Omar Pimienta is not one of those people. The poet lives on the Tijuana/San Diego border, an experience he documents in his book "Album of Fences," which his friend and fellow poet Jose Antonio Villarn recently translated into English.
Local author Amy Trueblood straps on her helmet and gets a bit daring with her debut young adult novel, “Nothing But Sky.” It features 18-year-old Grace Lafferty, a wing walker who stuns the crowds with dangerous acrobatics in the sky. The novel follows her chase to get to the 1922 World Aviation Expo until a stunt goes wrong. PHOENIX had the chance to talk to Trueblood before her novel came out on March 27.
Trueblood will be at Changing Hands in Tempe on March 31 at 4 p.m. for her book launch. For more information, go here.
LiteraryQ&A with Chilean Writer Alejandro Zambra, in Phoenix for Residency
Ofelia MontelongoOctober 4, 2017
Award-winning author Alejandro Zambra, one of Chile’s most celebrated writers, is visiting Phoenix this week for a bilingual literary residency organized by CALA Alliance in collaboration with Palabras Bilingual Bookstore, Cardboard House Press and Changing Hands Bookstore. Zambra's avant-garde narrative and storytelling has made him into one of the latest Latin American literary stars. In 2010, he was named one of Granta's Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists.
This week, he has already made a surprise visit to a book club discussing Bonsái, his first book, and started his bilingual workshop “How to Forget How to Write Fiction” at Palabras.
Zambra will be at Changing Hands Phoenix, on Thursday at 7 p.m., when he’ll read from his acclaimed novels Multiple Choice, Bonsai, The Private Lives of Trees, Ways of Going Home and My Documents. He will also be the guest of honor at Palabra’s Micro-Mania event (tagged as a night of readings from micro fictions, micro food – aka tapas – and jazz) this First Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The author, who has been named the "the most talked-about writer to come out of Chile since [Roberto] Bolaño” by the New York Times Book Review, feels the comparison a little off. “I’m probably taller than him,” Zambra jokes of his Chilean compatriot, who died from liver failure at the age of 50 in 2003. “He was a much better writer than I ever will be.”
PHOENIX magazine interviewed Zambra ahead of his book reading and signing this Thursday, and chatted about his experimental writing. (Responses have been translated from Spanish, and edited for clarity.)
LiteraryAward-Winning Chilean Author Alejandro Zambra To Begin Phoenix Residency
Ofelia MontelongoSeptember 28, 2017
Award winning Chilean author Alejandro Zambra begins his literary residency in Phoenix next week.Presented by CALA Alliance (Celebracion Artistica de las Americas) in partnership with Changing Hands Bookstore, Palabras Bilingual Bookstore, and Cardboard House Press, the Bonsái author will participate in a series of free literary events in the Valley including a bilingual workshop at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore, a visit to Arizona State University and a lecture and book reading at Changing Hands Bookstore. (Event details below.)
LiteraryA Chat With Poet Roberto Echavarren, In Phoenix For Book Reading
Ofelia MontelongoApril 26, 2017
It's not everyday we have the pleasure of welcoming to the Valley one of the leading voices in the Spanish-speaking literature world. Renowned Uruguayan poet Roberto Echavarren will be in Phoenix this Thursday, April 27, at Burton Barr Central Library. The essayist, novelist, professor and translator will be reading from his latest poetry collection, "The Espresso Between Sleep and Wakefulness" (Cardboard House Press, $14.99).
Remember how "Hidden Figures" came out in December and everyone was shocked that they'd never before heard the story of a group of black women who helped send the first American astronaut into space? If only high schools had assigned Margot Lee Shetterly's book during their lesson segments on the Cold War...
Award-winning author and Valley resident Bill Konigsberg will be presenting the sequel to his praised coming-of-age book "Openly Straight" this evening (March 28) at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe. His first book "Openly Straight" follows the life of Rafe Goldberg, a teenage boy who changes schools and falls in love with Ben.
LiterarySpillers No. 7 Injects Fiction into Phoenix Storytelling Scene
Ofelia MontelongoMarch 13, 2017
Storytelling events are no longer a rarity in the Valley. In fact, Phoenix is positively booming with events that give voice to established writers and novices alike (see: "Multi-Story Building," Jan. 2017).Spillers is the fiction writers' answer to all the non-fiction events around town. A quarterly short fiction storytelling event, Spillers features several writers who present a piece, sit down with the show hosts on their award-winning Spillers podcast and include their stories in a chapbook. Also unlike the non-fiction events, there are no specific themes.