Tucson, the Novel: Literature and Civil Discourse: Words Saving Lives

Monday, June 14, 2010

Literature and Civil Discourse: Words Saving Lives

The postcard said:

I have lived in San Francisco since I was young. I am illegal. I am not wanted here. I don't belong anywhere. This summer I plan to jump off the Golden Gate.

And here's the response of a loving civil society. This video is a beautiful way to spend the next 4 minutes of your life.

1 comment:

Lisa BJune 24, 2010 at 7:03 PM
beautiful indeed. thanks for posting. a great example of literary activism to show the Grrls!
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About the Artist

Shannon Cain is a fiction writer and a writing coach. Her collection of short stories, The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011) was awarded the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her work has been awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Individual Artist Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the O. Henry Prize and twice the Pushcart Prize. She has taught creative writing at the University of Arizona, Gotham Writers Workshop, and Arizona State University. She was the Summer 2011 Picador Guest Professor in Literature at the University of Leipzig, and is currently on faculty in the MFA program at the Bennington Writing Seminars. Shannon is Artist-in-Residence for Tucson's Ward One. Visit her website here.

Read her Artist's Statement here.

The Novel

Virginia Walker and her husband Theo are each struggling with a private attraction to the same woman. They’re on the brink of divorce and are about to lose their foothills home to foreclosure. Virginia’s consulting business is failing, and Theo—an urban planner for the city—is battling a land development scheme that would ravage Tumamoc Hill, one of Tucson’s most significant historic, cultural and environmental sites.

Charlie, the object of their shared affection, is an artist and road trip aficionado struggling with a needy ex-girlfriend and with an impending eviction from the Steinfeld Warehouse, where she lives with her infant daughter.

Virginia’s daughter and her boyfriend, both students at Tucson High, are about to embark on a dangerous act of civil disobedience meant to protect Tumamoc from Eric Emerald, the developer who plans to construct a shopping mall and luxury condos on the site.

Interwoven into this novel of politics and land use are a series of “Love Stories” featuring everyday Tucsonans and the ways in which they help or hinder the proposed development at Tumamoc Hill. Set amidst the economic crisis of 2009, Tucson is an examination of the relationship between humans and the natural environment; a celebration and a critique of citizen activists; and a story about love: for a child, for a partner, for a family, for a culture, for a landscape, for a city.

Tucson, the Novel

Monday, June 14, 2010

Literature and Civil Discourse: Words Saving Lives

1 comment:

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