Erik Villa, employee with Arizona Party Rentals, loosens a tent sheet while other employees began to break down tents set up for the Tucson Festival of Books on the UA mall in Tucson Ariz., on March 9, 2020.
This year's Tucson Festival of Books is off after more than 100 authors canceled their appearances amid coronavirus concerns, officials announced Monday.
The cancellation came just hours before Pima County confirmed its first case of coronavirus.
As of late Monday, six cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, have been confirmed in Arizona.
The Tucson Festival of Books, which would've marked its 12th year this weekend, draws more than 100,000 people to the University of Arizona campus.
"It's heartbreaking," said festival executive director Melanie Morgan. "For me, for all of our volunteers who work year-round on the festival ... it's heartbreaking for people coming to the festival. It's so joyful and so important to so many people in the community."
The decision to cancel the festival altogether was ultimately made as cancellations from authors and participants poured in over the last week. Last Tuesday, only three authors had canceled due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The cancellations steadily increased each day after that, Morgan said.
"This has deeply affected our author panel schedule and we anticipate more changes and cancellations will be forthcoming," organizers said in a statement on Monday. "This leaves us with little or noway to plan for author panels or to communicate effectively with the public about those changes."
Added Morgan: "A lot of factors went into the decision, but we felt you cannot present a book festival without authors."
On Saturday, the festival's board members initially decided to make the festival a "touch-free" event, meaning that authors wouldn't be shaking hands or hugging attendees.
"As a result, we had to cancel the interactive, hands-on activities and tours in Science City, and modify many activities in the children's area, again diminishing the festival experience," the statement said.
Science City has more than 100 hands-on activities hosted by the University of Arizona's College of Science and Bio5 Institute.
Morgan added that Science City activities were not only canceled because of coronavirus concerns, but also worries about the flu and the common cold.
Morgan informed the participating authors of the Science City decision through email on Saturday and asked them to notify her if they thought they'd also be canceling their appearances.
When the number of cancellations topped 100, Morgan said it became clear that it would be "almost impossible" to present a good festival for the community.
"We'd like to thank the community for their understanding and let them know that a lot went into this decision," Morgan said.
"The authors were all incredibly disappointed. These authors wanted to come to Tucson and they felt really safe with the precautions that the University of Arizona and the Tucson Festival of Books were putting in place to prevent infection due to coronavirus."
Organizers had planned to place sanitation stations in the food court area, with an additional 300 hand pumps at exhibitor booths.
Morgan said that many authors didn't feel safe traveling by airplane, couldn't travel due to restrictions placed by their employers or were recommended by medical professionals to not travel.
"As a festival, we believe people need to do what they feel is best for their health concerns," Morgan said last Tuesday.
At that time, she said 345 authors were scheduled to attend the 2020 festival.
Visit azhealth.gov/COVID19 for the latest COVID-19 information in the state and pima.gov/COVID19 for information in Pima County.
Journalist and author David Maraniss, foreground, talks about his books during the 2017 Tucson Festival of Books at the University of Arizona.
RELATED: Photo gallery from the 2019 Tucson Festival of Books:
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Ed Asner, actor and author of "The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs," takes a selfie with David Kaplan, author of "The Most Dangerous Branch" during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Matt Stamp reads to his daughter, Adela, 3, in the Tent for Tots tent during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Schuyler Germann, a volunteer, writes down a word guessed by festival goers on the crossword puzzle during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Lindsay Parsons helps her son, Lawson, 7, place a pin on a map as they visit the Science for Food tent during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Finnigan Hernandez, 7, listens as Deepak Gopalakrishnan explains the parts to the robot during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus. Gopalakrishnan is a volunteer with SYSTEM Coalition, a non-profit that exposes youth to science.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Theo Swanson Brownell, top, and Ikela Akerele of The Lindley Lopez Circus perform during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Emerald Gordon Wulf of The Lindley Lopez Circus perform during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Marcos Hernandez flips through a book at the Integrity Books tent during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Festival goers pass by the Integrity Books tent during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Stephanie Land, who wrote "MAID: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive," talks about being authentic during the "Painful to Write, Powerful to Read" discussion at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
A festival goer listens as authors speak during the "Painful to Write, Powerful to Read" discussion at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Mary Carryer asks a question to an author during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
A boy gets a view above the crowd during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Nik Sharma, author of "Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food," tells the crowd that he really enjoyed eating pizza when he first moved to the United States from India during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
David Ulin, the author or editor of ten books, including "Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles," speaks in the Arizona Daily Star tent during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Audiene members take their photos of Ed Asner before the start of the "Who's Constitution Is It, Anyway," panel during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
2019 Tucson Festival of Books
Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen," speaks during the Tucson Festival of Books on March 03, 2019 on the University of Arizona campus.
Contact reporter Gloria Knott at gknott@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @gloriaeknott
In this Series
Tucson-area coronavirus coverage from January to March: Nearly 1,300 cases in Arizona, stay-at-home order
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Gloria Knott
Online producer
Gloria is a Tucson native and attended the University of Arizona. She started at the Star as an apprentice in 2017. Following her apprenticeship, she began freelancing until becoming a full-time reporter and producer after her college graduation in 2018.
