The Tucson Festival of books is in its 5th year.

See www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org for complete list of authors, exhibitors, etc. for this wildly popular book festival held every March on the University of Arizona mall. Free event, free parking around the UA Campus. Two years ago our Tucsoncitizen.com news source had a booth there.

March 9 and 10, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days.

New this year, my husband UA University Distinguished Professor (and 2012 Arizona Professor of the Year) Albrecht Classen will be signing his 2012 Southwestern book, “The Letters of the Swiss Jesuit Missionary Philipp Segesser (1689-1762)” on both days of the festival. Swiss missionary Segesser followed in the footsteps of early Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Kino into the Sonoran region of Arizona.

The Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) in Tempe, Arizona published this book last year (click here for previous post). The ACMRS festival booth will be #141 just south of the University of Arizona Bookstore booth, directly south of the west end of the UA Memorial Student Union.

Also published in 2012 by Lexington Books is “Early History of the Southwest through the Eyes of German-Speaking Jesuit Missionaries” (about Father Kino, Father Segesser, and others) by my husband.

At 10 a.m. on Saturday March 9, Professor Classen will join Professor Donald Weinstein in a talk in the UA Student Union Ventana Room upstairs (level 4):

“Savonarola and Segesser: They Changed History, for Heaven’s Sake”

When: Saturday 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Where: Student Union – Ventana Room
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Authors:
Albrecht Classen
Donald Weinstein

Weinstein is the author of the biography, “Savonarola: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet.” It presents an original interpretation of the 15th century friar’s prophetic career. Donald Weinstein is a Professor Emeritus in the UA Dept. of History, where he was formerly Department Head.

Moderator: Hester Oberman (daughter of the late Dr. Heiko Oberman, renowned UA Regents Professor of History). She is an Adjunct Professor in the Religious Studies Dept.at the University of AZ.

Join these three UA Professors in a fascinating discussion about early modern clerics, their religious passion, and impact on their societies.

And enjoy all the many exhibitors, authors, performances at this wonderful book festival. I’ve been attending every year and it’s always a fun-filled, intellectually stimulating, and popular event for all. It’s also very children friendly with lots of entertainment and activities for the kids.

Father Philipp Segesser, courtesy of Georg von Segesser

Swiss Jesuit missionary Philipp Segesser (1689 to 1762) followed famous Jesuit missionary Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino (1645 to 1711) into the Pimeria Alta of Southern Arizona (18th- century Sonora, Mexico).

His letters in Swiss German (mostly to his family in Lucerne) have been read and translated by my husband German Studies University Distinguished Professor Albrecht Classen. Quote below from the summary intro:

The early history of Sonora/Arizona (Pimeria Alta) was profoundly influenced and determined by the Jesuit missionaries from Europe. After Padre Eusebio Kino’s death in 1711, an increasing number of German-speaking Jesuits arrived in our region and soon dominated the entiry missionary district. We have known so far well about the Fathers Ignaz Pfefferkorn or Joseph Och.

The Swiss Philipp Segesser, one of the most effective, pragmatic, and industrious members of the Jesuit Order active here in the Southwest, has not yet been fully noticed because his large collection of letters have never been translated into English.

Segesser’s reports about his daily life in our region, his insightful observations about local agriculture, fauna, flora, climate, and geology, and his numerous comments about the native Indians, their life styles, clothing, food, hunting habits, religion, and culture at large prove to be most intriguing and fascinating.

The introduction and excerpts of letters (translated into English) of a forthcoming book* are now online at his webpage at:
http://aclassen.faculty.arizona.edu/transcription_letters_0. These particular excerpts pertain to life in the Tucson area and San Xavier del Bac mission, located in the Tohono O’odham Nation southwest of Tucson at 1950 W. San Xavier Road.

See also the pre-print online versions of all Segesser’s letters (click here).

I’ve written before about Padre Kino and the Kino Heritage Society (click here) and other Padre Kino events celebrating the recent 300th anniversary of his death (click here).

*Due to state budget cuts this book will not be published in print by the Arizona State Museum.
(updated June 13, 2011)