Authors speaking at the Tucson Festival of Books' Star Pavilion

Maureen Corrigan, who has inspired many book-group selections over her 25-year career as book critic on the Peabody Award-winning NPR program, “Fresh Air,” wants you to be fascinated by and rethink Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway and all of characters of “The Great Gatsby.”

She’ll bring new insights to “Gatsby” and author F. Scott Fitzgerald when she discusses “So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures,” at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12.

“In an effort to delve deeper into Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, I take readers deep into the sources of the book in Fitzgerald’s life and American culture of the early 20th century, but I also take my readers on rollicking ‘road trips’ with me,” she says.

“I want readers to become as fascinated with this deceptively simple masterpiece as I am — which isn’t hard because there are so many fascinating stories surrounding Gatsby.”

What to expect at the festival: “To be moved by Fitzgerald’s life and work, as well as enlightened and entertained by incredible stories,” Corrigan says.

“For instance, I’ll talk about the fact that a patriotic paperback distribution program during World War II helped rescue ‘The Great Gatsby’ from near oblivion. (At the time of Fitzgerald’s death, copies of the second printing of ‘Gatsby’ from 1925 were still moldering in Scribner’s warehouse. The novel didn’t sell well when it first appeared.)

“Imagine: Fitzgerald’s last royalty check when he died in Hollywood in 1940 was $13.13. These days, ‘Gatsby’ has conquered the globe. My own book is being translated into Russian and Korean because people around the world are so fascinated by Jay Gatsby and his story as an epitome of ‘Americaness.’”

What she’d like people to know: “‘Gatsby’ is out and out funny! The first third of the novel contains scenes that read like clips from a screwball comedy. Fitzgerald liked a good laugh and, like the best American writing. … ”

—Maureen Corrigan will speak at 10 a.m. on Saturday

David Maraniss is a storyteller who draws his inspiration from the oddest places, such as a TV commercial.

Maraniss, winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and an associate editor at The Washington Post, has written a shelf full of books on sports and political figures, including, “Barack Obama.” He’ll discuss Motown, cars, bankruptcy and his latest book, “Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story” at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 12.

Maraniss says the idea for “Once a Great City” was sparked at a bar in New York City on Feb. 6, 2011, as he watched the Super Bowl on television, nervously rooting for the Green Bay Packers. (The team won, by the way, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25.)

A halftime a commercial caught his attention.

“A freeway sign that said Detroit. Iconic images of the city: the Joe Louis fist, the marvelous Diego Rivera murals of Detroit Industry, the spirit of Detroit sculpture, a black sedan cruising down Woodward Avenue and stopping outside the grand old Fox Theatre, and the rapper Eminem getting out, walking down the aisle of the darkened theater, a black gospel choir on stage rising in song, and Eminem turning to the camera and saying, ‘This is the Motor City, and this is what we do,’” he says, describing the commercial.

“I choked up watching that ad,” Maraniss says. “I was born in Detroit. It hit me in a deep way, even though it was only selling Chryslers. I started thinking about what I could do to honor the city of my birth, and eventually settled on this book, which depicts Detroit at a time when it seemed to be booming in cars, Motown, labor and civil rights — yet the signs of its collapse were already there.”

However interesting a topic may be, Maraniss says, “I have to be obsessed with a subject to write a book. My usual time spent on each book is 3 to 3½ years, so it has to be something that I’m basically willing to give my life over to.”

What to expect at the festival: “I am a storyteller. I will tell the story of Detroit and put it in the context of what this city gave America, which is an enormous amount in terms of the automobile culture, the Motown soundtrack of our generation, the heart of the American labor movement, and a key player in the transformative civil rights movement of the sixties.”

—David Maraniss will speak at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday

“Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor” is not only one of the greatest stories of World War II but one of the greatest stories of the nation, says author James M. Scott.

The book gives new information on a story you might think you know, says Scott, who will be presenting at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 12, in the Star tent during the Tucson Festival of Books.

The scope and size of WWII is unimaginable, says Scott, a former reporter and investigative journalist who left the newspaper business in 2007.

WWII affected how we lived and it affected the nation as nothing ever has, he says. At its height “the war consumed 96 cents of every federal dollar spent” and more than 10 million men and women were in uniform.

While WWII attention is often focused on Europe, Scott hones in on the other side of the globe, the war in the Pacific.

In “Target Tokyo” Scott tackles the symbolism-rich Doolittle Raid, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered to boost morale, prove U.S. military prowess, and retaliate for the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The battleship USS Arizona sank with its crew onboard during the attack, and it remains a memorial in Pearl Harbor.

It is a powerful story of confidence — that the U.S. would survive — and it speaks to the bonds of war and of friendship, says Scott.

Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led the daring bombing raid on April 18, 1942 — 80 airmen in an armada of 16 Army B-25s took off from the deck of aircraft carrier the USS Hornet for the long-range bombing attack on Tokyo.

Scott’s deeply researched book — he spoke with survivors, read diaries and scoured dozens of archives that stretched to four continents — brings to light new details and information on crew training, the planes, the attack and the political complexities that followed the raid.

Of the 80 airmen, 73 survived the raid and its aftermath and returned to the U.S. Doolittle got his general’s star and was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Doolittle’s Raiders, as the airmen came to be known, gathered annually to toast one another. At the 17th annual reunion held in Tucson in 1959, a civic booster group, the Sunshine Climate Club, presented the survivors with a set of 80 silver goblets.

“Each goblet is engraved twice,” explains Scott. The raider’s name could be read if the goblet is right side up or upside down.

One of the two living group members, Richard E. “Dick” Cole, Doolittle’s copilot during the raid, built a portable display case to transport them. The Air Force Academy displayed goblets between reunions. In 2005, the surviving raiders decided to make the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the goblets’ permanent home.

Scott says he likes stories of “ordinary people in extraordinary situations.”

He’s the author of “The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel’s Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship,” which won the 2010 Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Excellence in Naval Literature, and “The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan.”

What to expect at the book festival: “New information on an old story,” he says.

—James M. Scott will speak at 1 p.m. on Saturday

Mark Ulriksen’s “Dogs Rule Nonchalantly” shares what it’s like to love, live with and lose a canine companion.

He shares the impact of dogs who have enriched his life through his bold, colorful, packed-with-emotion illustrations and comments. Ulriksen, 59, will be in the Star pavilion at the Tucson Festival of Books at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

You may have seen Ulriksen’s work. His illustrations have been on 52 covers of The New Yorker magazine, as well as in other national publications.

Ulriksen, who is based in San Francisco, answered a few questions:

Your work is recognizable. How do you define your distinct style?

“I think every artist’s work has a definitive look if they practice the craft long enough. Some of it is natural and unconscious, in the way everyone’s signature is uniquely their own or the way one walks.

“For myself I’ve had my kids describe my work as “kind of real, kind of cartoony” and an artist friend labeled it ‘gracefully awkward.’ I like both of those definitions.”

How and why did you decide to create “Dogs Rule?”

“ ‘Dogs Rule Nonchalantly’ came about because I had created over 100 dog paintings in the past 20 years and wanted to collect them into some form. A personal story about my own dogs over my lifetime along with observations about man’s best friend in general seemed like a good way to go.

“An old college roommate — Tom Walker — has spent his career in graphic design and book publishing and he’s the one who encouraged me to create this, my first book. He also connected me with the publisher, Gordon Goff of Goff Books.

You used a Kickstarter campaign for “Dogs Rule.” Why?

“Lots of feet dragging or questionable editorial advice from some of the publishers we pitched meant that Goff was the best publisher to go with.

We (Tom Walker and I) chose Kickstarter as way to galvanize early support and attention for the book as well as a fundraising tool in order to hire an outside PR firm because Goff’s resources are very thin in that department.

What is your favorite portrait in “Dogs Rule?” Why?

“That’s a tough one. I’m likely to change my mind on this tomorrow but for today I’ll say the painting ‘Izzy, From the Other Side.’

“I like the emotions behind it. As I said this book is created from a body of over 100 existing paintings, where I wrote text that went with these previous assignments or commissions.

“This painting was a commission from a couple who had recently lost their dog, Izzy, and they wanted to commemorate her. They sent pictures of her in a number of environments, including this wooded area near their San Diego home. When I saw the large fallen branch on this property I thought how it made for a physical break, with Izzy on one side of the log and her toys on the other. She’s no longer able to play with them.

“And the image fit an important part of the text, where I wanted to explain while dogs lives are cruelly short, they are long enough for a dog to do what takes us humans a lifetime to achieve (if we ever get there) — to love unconditionally and to give more than we receive in kind.

“As I wrote in the book, dogs love you even more than they love themselves.”

Likewise, in your narrative, do you have a favorite portion?

That’s easier — the final seven spreads of the book, where I talk about the demise of my dog Ted and ruminate on what a dog’s short life is all about. It gets a touch sentimental, but I leavened that with my sense of humor, which follows me always.”

What can the audience expect at your presentation at the Star tent at the book festival?

I have a slide show, which I’m a tad nervous about because my venue is in a tent! In the middle of the day!! In sunny Southern Arizona!!! So we’ve augmented that by putting together 30 spreads from the book that we’ll leave on everyone’s chair at my talk.”

—Mark Ulriksen will speak at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday

C.B. McKenzie breaks the boundaries that divide literary fiction and mystery writing.

He’ll help you bust boundaries and other writing quandaries during Bending Genres at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 12.

McKenzie’s “Bad Country,” a mystery set in Tucson in which protagonist Rodeo Grace Garnet is a part-Yaqui private investigator, won the 2013 Tony Hillerman Prize for best first mystery set in the Southwest, won the Spur Award for Best Western Contemporary Novel, and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. His next literary crime novel, “Burn What Will Burn,” is set in rural Arkansas, and will be released in June. He spent the summer in Iceland prepping for another book.

You won’t find detailed, easy-to-skip-or-skim descriptions, exposition or banter in McKenzie’s books. And unlike many mysteries, all the questions are not conveniently answered.

He says his books are not overwritten and that readers must read every word to get the full impact of the book.

You might recognize McKenzie from around Tucson. He received his master’s of fine arts and Ph.D. from UA and was a faculty member at Pima Community College. He lives in California.

What to expect at the book festival: He doesn’t have an agent, so he can’t help you find one. He will, however, answer just about anything else about publishing and writing, including developing your story ideas.

Fans of Rodeo Grace Garnet take note: He will be back, but won’t return to Tucson. McKenzie says he plans Rodeo stories set in West Texas (if you read “Bad Country,” you know why) and in New Mexico. There also won’t be a string of Rodeo books.

“I’m not a series writer,” McKenzie says.

 —C.B. McKenzie will speak 4 p.m. on Saturday

Harper Lee, whose landmark, Pulitzer Prize-winning book “To Kill a Mockingbird” brought new light to racial injustice, has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most widely read American novels of the 20th century, HarperCollins reported in 2015.

Lee declined interviews in the late 1960s and did not publish another book until “Go Set a Watchman” was released last year. Lee died on Feb. 19. She was 89.

However private the author was, “To Kill a Mockingbird” endures, a standard reading in high schools around the country and frequently selected for city- and statewide reading efforts.

Marja Mills, author of “The Mockingbird Next Door,” which is the memoir of her relationship with Harper Lee and her sister, Alice, will lead a discussion on “Go Set a Watchman” at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 13.

Mills, a Chicago Tribune alum and a member of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for a 2001 series about O’Hare Airport, moved into the house next door to the Lee sisters and spent 18 months getting to know them.

What to expect at the book festival: New insights on Lee’s life and writing.

 —Marja Mills will speak at 10 a.m. on Sunday

Janice Kaplan had plenty to be happy about.

An accomplished career as a novelist and television producer, she interviewed big-name celebrities and was editor-in-chief of Parade magazine.

She had a nice husband and kids, too, but says, “like so many people, I wasn’t quite as happy as I should be.”

So she set out to ramp up her happiness.

“On a New Year’s Eve, I started to think about what might happen to make the coming year really terrific,” Kaplan says. “I realized it wasn’t the events but my own attitude that was likely to make the difference — so I challenged myself to see what would happen if I spent the year living more gratefully.

“The results were more dramatic than I could have imagined. I ended up with probably the best year of my life.”

She will share those results and her research-backed “The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life” at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, March 13.

What to expect at the festival: “I’m excited to share my experiences in Tucson — along with some funny anecdotes and compelling research. I’ve learned that gratitude can change the neural pathways in our brains that help us to succeed and also dramatically improve marriage, family life, careers and health ... .

“I’m so passionate about this book because I know that it can help everyone have their best year ever.”

 —Janice Kaplan will speak at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday

A Stephan Pastis cartoon may have made you spit your coffee across the breakfast table.

Pastis, who draws and writes the popular and edgy comic strip “Pearls Before Swine,” which appears in more than 600 newspapers, including the Star, will be on stage at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 13.

Pastis’ anthropomorphic animals make silly and serious comment on adult themes, and Pastis isn’t shy about drawing parodies of other comics.

He’s also a children’s author. Pastis takes off six weeks in the summer from his comic strip to write his “Timothy Failure” series featuring a clueless yet overly confident detective and his polar bear sidekick.

What to expect at the festival: Pastis requested — he actually asked for — the Star’s David Fitzsimmons to moderate the session, so count on irreverence, laughter and tongue-in-cheek humor.

—Stephan Pastis will speak at 1 p.m. on Sunday

Sarah Hepola has been a sex blogger, travel columnist, music editor, film critic, an editor at Salon.com, and her spot-on essays on culture show remarkable insightful and keen skills of observation. She has a quick, wry wit. She will make you laugh.

And she’s awakened in a stranger’s bed with no memory of how she got there.

In her raw, revealing memoir “Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget,” Hepola, 41, shares stories of sneaking sips of beer when she was 7, blacking out for the first time at 11, going to happy hour at 6 p.m. and closing the bar, and finding her way out of her boozy binges and blackouts and living her first year of sobriety.

(Unlike passing out, during a blackout a person talks, walks and functions but has no memory of his or her actions.)

We asked Hepola, who presents at 2:30 p.m. next Sunday, March 13, in the Star pavilion, a few questions:

You’ve said “Blackout” was “the book you needed.” Tell us why it is/was the book you needed and others may need.

“I thought my life was over after I quit drinking.

“That’s part of why it took me so long to stop. I worried that sobriety would be a permanent social exile from good times and joy and erotic adventure.

“It wasn’t true. I would even say the opposite has been true: Sex is better when you’re not bombed out of your mind, conversation crackles more when you’re not slurring your words, and friendships get stronger when you’re truly present for each other, not when you disappear into your drink.

“So I wanted to write a book that could assure the former me I’d be all right on the other side. I think of the book as a message in a bottle back to my former self: This way out. I promise you’ll be OK.”

You read the audiobook. What was it like reading your memoir, sharing your story aloud?

“It was intense. Months had passed since I last read the story, and I was worried that with some distance, I would see all the mistakes, or feel embarrassed by the material, but I kept thinking: Yeah, that’s right. That’s how it happened.

“This may sound like a curious response, but as a memoir writer, I live with an outsized terror that I will get the story wrong, so it was a huge relief just to feel comfortable inside those pages again.

“Of course some passages were tough to read, but they’re not the ones people imagine. They’re passages about my cat, or my mom, or my best friend. Passages about unconditional love. I had claw marks on my left palm from trying to keep my voice from breaking during those sections.”

And it is brave. How have the reactions from family and friends affected you? Have you had to restructure your life and rebuild friendships?

“I think it says a lot about my parents that never once did they say, ‘You can’t write this,’ or ‘Please don’t say such-and-such.’ My parents were so generous with me. They always said, ‘Write the truth. Write the best book you know how to write.’

“I did have to rebuild relationships with friends, but not because of the book.

“Because of the years I spent drinking, and not taking care of myself, and being stuck in my own drama.

“As far as the memoir goes, my friends were super-supportive. I always show pages to friends during the editing process, so they each had a chance to torpedo anything they didn’t like, but no one exercised that option.

“Obviously, the book forced some hard conversations. It got squirmy at times. But every one of those hard conversations led to a stronger relationship.”

What can audience members expect from your presentation?

“Lasers. Glitter. Dancing cats. Well, metaphorically speaking.

“I’ll read a few passages from the book and talk about how I discovered alcohol, and then how I discovered I had to let it go.

“I want to talk about losing your way. That’s something that happens to all of us at some point. For me, it happened with alcohol, and for you it might be brought on by something else — a marriage, a job, a family member — but you have to walk away from something you love in order to get yourself back.”

—Sarah Hepola will speak at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday

Think you know Tucson trivia?

Well, we’ll see when David Devine, author of “Tucson: A History of the Old Pueblo from the 1854 Gadsden Purchase” and the Star's David Fitzsimmons team up to conclude the festival at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 13.

What to expect at the festival: “Folks who come to see our game show will have fun, learn about Tucson and have fun,” Fitzsimmons says. “Did I mention we’ll have fun?”

The fun will start when they create two teams made up of contestants from an audience that is there because it is desperate for tent shade, Fitzsimmons says.

“David and I will be the quizmasters,” Fitzsimmons says. “Since my name is David and David’s name is David, I thought it might help if I call myself ‘David,’ so contestants who address us by name will always be right.

“The two teams will have little bells that go ‘ding.’ Bedlam will be the order of the day, and hopefully, we’ll find out if Gadsden got a receipt with his purchase,” Fitzsimmons says.

“It takes an entire year to assemble this group, and it’s never easy,” says festival chairman Humenik.

“Since we invite the best, there is an element of luck involved,” he added. “We have been fortunate because, in eight years, our invitations rarely get rejected. And that’s an awesome feeling, because we do all of this for Tucson. We put a lot of heart into it.”

—David Devine and David Fitzsimmons will speak Sunday at 4 p.m.