12 books by Arizona authors that make great holiday gifts

Arizona is home to sweeping mountain and desert vistas, gorgeous sunsets, the occasional haboob — and a lot of literary talent.

In contemporary Arizona letters, writers draw inspiration from the Sonoran Desert, and there are stories of profound hardship that take place there. Tourists and residents visit Organ Pipe National Monument, and yet, one writer on this list nearly died there. 

Arizona writers tell what it’s like to be a first-generation Nigerian in Tucson, or to have come from the Midwest into the heat of a Phoenix summer. They also go beyond: to Colombia or to Ukraine. They go to the past, like WWII France. They write about process, craft, about how it feels to be queer in high school.

What all of these books have in common is a distinct voice. 

If you have a reader on your holiday list, you’re covered by one of these 12 books.

‘Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts’

Matt Bell
Literary light and educator Matt Bell is a New York Times bestseller and the author of many books of fiction. In three practically oriented sections, his craft book “Refuse to Be Done” takes aspiring (and experienced) authors through the process of writing and revising a novel in distinct steps. There are many “how-tos” about writing, but Bell’s stands out for being extremely actionable. 

A great gift for: The writer in your life who just hasn’t quite figured out how to get her idea onto the page

‘Gloomy Girl Variety Show’

Freda Epum
A Nigerian-American writer from Tucson, Epum’s Gloomy Girl Variety Show blends images, essays, and essays to create a unique hybrid memoir. It’s thoughtful, thought-provoking and utterly unique. Readers who came of age in the early 2000s will recognize the house-flipping and talk shows that are always on in the background and provide a narrative scaffolding to locate the reader in time. 

A great gift for: Your favorite elder millennial 

‘At the Hour Between Dog and Wolf’

Tara Ison
Author of four novels, Tara Ison’s most recent follows Danielle, a 12-year-old Jewish girl in hiding with a Catholic family in rural France. It is harrowing for Danielle, who must renounce her past in order to live. Set in WWII at the time of French collaboration with Nazi Germany, as Danielle accepts her alter ego to protect herself, she changes in profound ways. 

A great gift for: Adult readers of historical fiction, literary fiction, WWII buffs

‘World of Our Mothers: Mexican Revolution-Era Immigrants and Their Stories’

Miguel Montiel and Yvonne de la Torre Montiel
Following nearly 50 women who immigrated to the United States during the 1910 Mexican Revolution, “World of Our Mothers,” a 2024 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award winner, chronicles their unbreakable spirit. These women were confronted by violence, marginalization, and forced labor while they care for their families. This book tells their stories, which might otherwise be lost.

A great gift for: Readers interested in biography, history and the borderlands

‘The Holy Days of Gregorio Pasos’

Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya
Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya is a Colombian-American writer living in Tucson, and his book “The Holy Days of Gregorio Pasos” follows a main character who is recovering from a soccer injury. Gregorio is already kind, open and introspective. When Uncle Nico shows up, the two take a journey to Colombia that informs the rest of Gregorio’s life. The writing has a dream-like quality that captures Gregorio’s pivotal moments.

A great gift for: Twenty-somethings searching for greater meaning in life

‘Bully Love’

Patricia Colleen Murphy
Founder of the important Tempe-based literary magazine Superstition Review, poet and educator Patricia Colleen Murphy’s collection of poetry “Bully Love” follows her journey from Ohio to Arizona. She chronicles her life through verse, but the book is also a love letter to the stunning and harsh beauty of the Sonoran Desert.

A great gift for: Folks who are going through change, and transplants to Arizona who have made it their home

‘Oshún and Me: A Story of Love and Braids’

Adiba Nelson
Also available in Spanish (“Oshún y Yo: Una Historia de Amore y Trenzas”), Pima County Public Library Writer in Residence and notable memoirist Adiba Nelson’s illustrated children’s book explores Afro-Latin heritage. As young Yadira’s hair is braided, she learns of the goddess Oshún from her mother, and her anxiety over school the next day dissolves under her new confidence, knowing Oshún is with her. 

A great gift for: Adults with children in their lives who are picture-book age, typically around 3 to 6

‘I Will Die in a Foreign Land’

Kalani Pickhart
Set in November 2013 after a series of protests, “I Will Die in a Foreign Land” follows four people through a desperate and volatile Ukrainian winter. The novel sets the stage for the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that served as a pretense for Vladimir Putin to annex Crimea, and while Pickhart’s prescient book came out before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is the characters who make this one shine.

A great gift for: Readers interested in how contemporary history influences current events

‘The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar’

Sonora Reyes
Seventeen-year-old Cesar Flores is reconciling his sexuality with his family’s Catholic religion, and he has a new mental health diagnosis. In the pressure-cooker of teen emotions, Cesar experiences a manic episode, which makes everything worse. In this young-adult novel, bestselling author and Lambda Award winner Sonora Reyes tells a nuanced story. 

A great gift for: YA readers who like honesty on the page, or adults who are seeking to have a better understanding of queer youth

‘Every Sound Is Not a Wolf’

Alberto Ríos
Arizona’s inaugural poet laureate Alberto Ríos’s latest is a collection of poems that explores the idea of borders, the interplay of humans and the natural world, the experience of being bilingual and other dualities. It’s told entirely in couplets, which in poetry are pairs of successive lines that rhyme and have the same basic rhythmic structure. 

A great gift for: A friend who is interested in poetry but isn’t sure where to begin

‘Dora: A Daughter of an Unforgiving Terrain’

Dora Rodriguez and Abbey Carpenter
In 1980, Dora Rodriguez was 19 years old. Fleeing El Salvador’s bloody civil war, she crossed into Arizona via the grounds of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where she collapsed and was left for dead. Yet, Rodriguez, along with just a handful of others in the original crossing group, ultimately survived. Today, she is recognized as a humanitarian leader. 

A great gift for: Readers of memoirs, and anyone interested in the intersection of personal stories with political policy

‘Don’t Take This the Wrong Way’

Michelle Ross and Kim Magowan
“Don’t Take This the Wrong Way” is a collection of 25 very short stories that deal with personal interactions, understanding and misunderstanding and characters who are trying to make meaning out of everyday life. The writing is precise and the topics are often highly relatable through both loneliness and hope.  

A great gift for: Yourself, if you feel like your attention span has been wrecked by the internet — you’ll get satisfaction and meaning from these stories without the commitment of a novel