In the last couple weeks, New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult’s daughter, Samantha van Leer, had to have a special meeting with a dean at Vassar College to move her statistics final. “Yeah, I have this book tour thing,” Picoult says she imagines her daughter telling the dean. Picoult…
Once upon a time, there was a guy named Charlie Levy, and he opened a music venue in downtown Phoenix called Crescent Ballroom. The bar served burritos and beer and whiskey cocktails and Levy brought all the coolest bands there to play. And the people were happy. But that wasn’t enough…
Jen Lancaster hasn’t always gotten it right. The New York Times bestselling author’s love of Kraft American singles prevailed when she tried to “culture up” (and bring fancy but stinky cheeses to her life), and she wrote an entire book about weight loss without reaching her goal. But Lancaster isn’t one…
They say not to judge a book by its cover. We’re going to go ahead and break that rule for a second and say that, by the looks of it, Independent Bookstore Day is going to be awesome. Both locations of Changing Hands and about 400 other independent bookstores across…
“Certainly things have changed,” Diane Keaton says. “They always do.” Taking in what she describes as a sunny California morning looking out on the patio of her current Los Angeles home, Keaton’s considering what’s happened in her life since publishing 2014’s Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty. In it, her…
“In 2004, I died in a scuba accident,” Kevin Wayne Williams says nonchalantly over the phone. “My last memory is going unconscious 20 feet from the top, so whether [my heart] clinically stopped or not, it’s tough to say,” the long-time Phoenix resident goes on to explain. “If I had…
During Phoenix Art Museum’s recent Exploding Plastic Inevitable celebration of Andy Warhol’s work, held on March 6 as part of this month’s First Friday, Four Chambers Press presented readings of works featured in their latest chapbook, titled Poetry and Prose for the Phoenix Art Museum. Two dozen writers with pieces…
When Jackalope Ranch issued a survey asking Phoenicians (and anyone with an opinion of Phoenix) to sound of on the state of the arts in the Valley of the Sun, dozens provided insights on what’s happening in the city’s creative realm. We’ll present a selection of survey responses here over…
When Jackalope Ranch issued a 10-question survey asking Phoenicians (and anyone with an opinion of Phoenix) to sound of on the state of the arts in the Valley of the Sun, dozens provided insights on what’s happening in the city’s creative realm. We’ll present a selection of survey responses here…
Beth May has a way with words. And having just graduated from Arizona State University’s screenwriting program, there’s no telling where or in what medium those words might land her. At 23, May has already sold her first screenplay, a possible movie adaptation of her end-of-days play, Earthlings, which she…
This week ASU’s Performance in the Borderlands Project will host an event celebrating the release of Tucson poet Logan Phillips’ first full-length collection, Sonoran Strange. The evening will feature readings and performances by a variety of local writers and artists, including Arizona’s first Poet Laureate, Alberto Alvaro Rios…
For author Marissa Meyer, it all started with Sailor Moon. Through that lunar soldier, she found a spark within herself that eventually ignited into a passion for writing young-adult fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. With the release of Fairest: Levana’s Story, her newest installment in the New York Times bestselling…
Scottsdale Public Art and New Times are teaming up for a spoken word event — and the premise is all wet. Presented in conjunction with public art celebration Canal Convergence at the Soleri Bridge and Plaza, Water Logged includes stories centered on water and canals from Michael Grady, Tania Katan,…
Four Chambers, a Phoenix-based literary magazine and small press, has partnered with Phoenix Art Museum to “assemble a small collection of poetry and prose responding to exhibits and collections within the Phoenix Art Museum.” There’s a lot to respond to these days, with a total of seven exhibits currently on…
Not sure where your life is headed? Unsure which decisions are the right ones to make? Wondering if things could possibly get any more chaotic than they are now? Welcome to the roller coaster ride of reality checks that is your 20s. While we can’t give you directions on how…
Shoving your nose in a favorite bit of reading material is a beloved coping mechanism this time of year, so we’re tickled with the timing of the latest issue of Four Chambers, released in October. The Four Chambers folk, who are based in Phoenix, describe their work as an “independent…
We here at Jackalope Ranch have been following Sprawlr for the past few months. We’re excited to announce that the eagerly anticipated digital magazine will finally launch on Monday, December 15…
Believe it or not, things got pretty wild at the Arizona Library Association conference, held November 13 and 14. During the event, the Arizona State Library launched Reading Arizona, a new ebook platform which allows members to “check out” digital copies of hundreds of state-centric published works…
“I am in love with my boyfriend’s cousin.” “My bulimia has made me better at giving blowjobs.” “I always order chicken fingers when I go out with my friends… Because I still can’t cut my own meat.” About a million strangers have told Frank Warren their secrets like these. And…
It was about a year ago that Carrie Bloomston, fabric designer and owner of SUCH Designs in Phoenix, was sitting in the tree fort she and her family had built in their backyard and writing while batting away the last lingering mosquitoes of summer. Bloomston was finishing what would become…
Bob Boze Bell wears many hats, most of them cowboy. The longtime Arizona resident has worked as an artist and author, contributing work for big screen productions as well as publications including National Lampoon, Playboy, Arizona Highways, and New Times. This is in addition to serving as a publisher and…
ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination is making us question everything we thought we knew about Arizona’s favorite party school. The Center, which considers itself a “network hub for audacious moonshot ideas and a cultural engine for thoughtful optimism,” seeks to unite writers, philosophers, scientists, and engineers to create…
