We put on some events solely for the membership of Tucson Essay Club. If you’d like to become a member, sign up as a paid subscriber for $5/month at our Substack, and you’ll be invited to all the Members Only Events.
But most of our events are Public, and are open to anyone! Those events are listed here below. These are also announced via our Substack (free subscribers receive notices of all public events), via the Tucson Essay Club Bluesky and Instagram pages. Really, though, just get on the Substack! We also list events in Tucson relevant to our members.
Present / Future
SUN SEPT 13 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. robert blum and 1980’s the blues brothers, social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm
thurs sept 17 2026 / nonfiction writers sarah minor and elissa washuta reading at the university of arizona poetry center, 7pm
also thurs sept 17 2026 / tucsonan molly mccloy book release party for nine grudges: the spiteful origins of the happiest dyke on earth, motosonora brewing, 7pm (this will go late so you can go to both the minor/washuta reading and this event if you want!)
FRI SEPT 18 2026 / AN EVENING WITH DEB OLIN UNFERTH and joel hans @ 7PM MILLVILLE STUDIOS (925 E. MILL ST); [RSVP HERE]
SUN oct 11 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. Ander Monson and 1989’s Puppet Master, social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm
thurs oct 15 2026 / nonfiction writers Juan Villoro and Paco Cantu reading from The Game at the End of the World: Villainous Referees, Communist Bakers, The Secret Women’s World Cup, and A Goalkeeper’s Last Stand at the university of arizona poetry center, 7pm
Fri Oct 16 / objects week presents work talks 4, objects edition: show and tell, 7pm at the tucson small business center, 900 s. meyer
SUN nov 22 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. Leah Mensch and 2016’s The Arrival, social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm
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PAST
SUN AUG 16 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. SHARON WAHL AND Jonathan VanBallenberghe AND THEIR ORIGINAL short FILM GURU (2011), social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm; RSVP link
SAT AUG 1 2026 / tucson essay club BIRTHDAY PARTY & SOCIAL / SLOW BODY BREWING 5PM; RSVP link
SUN july 12 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. megan campbell and 1987’s summer school, social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm
TUES JULY 7 2026 / WORK TALKS 3 @ 7PM TUCSON SMALL BUSINESS CENTER, 600 S. MEYER / FEAT. MAYA BERNSTEIN-SCHALET, SIMMONS BUNTIN, CHRISTIAN MOHER, AND ATHENA MONSON
SUN JUNE 14 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. lee anne gallaway-mitchell and 1983’s eddie & the cruisers, social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm
SUN MAY 24 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. raquel gutiérrez and 1996’s the birdcage, social at 7pm, movie and an essay 8pm
sun apr 19 2026 @ 6-9pm, tucson small business center (600 s. meyer) / hit repeat until i hate music / march xness book launch, reading, karaoke
sun apr 12 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. jessy schmidt and strait-jacket (1964). socialization at 7, essay & movie at 8
wed april 1 2026 / Keep it together reading series @ 6:30pm revel wine bar (416 e 9th st) / kirk wisland and simmons buntin
SAT mar 28 2026 / club member caroline tracey salt lakes: an unnatural history book release @ 5-6pm, antigone books
sun mar 22 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. cheryl graham and the verdict (1982). socialization at 7, essay & movie at 8
wed march 4 2026 / Keep it together reading series @ 6:30pm revel wine bar (416 e 9th st) / sylvia chan and kindall gray
sun feb 22 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. gabb schivone and higher learning (1995). socialization at 7, essay & movie at 8
february 5 2026 / john haskell and sharon wahl reading, @ 6:30pm, Tucson small business center (we promise this is a rad space), 600 S. Meyer ave.
- John Haskell’s books include I Am Not Jackson Pollock, \American Purgatorio, Out of My Skin, The Complete Ballet, and the new one, Trying to Be. He has written plays, catalogue essays, dance reviews, food histories, and film criticism. Fiction and nonfiction pieces have appeared in variety of publications, including BOMB and A Public Space, magazines where he is a contributing editor. Haskell has performed his work on stage, and on radio shows like The Next Big Thing and Studio 360. He has been awarded fellowships in Europe and America, received NYFA grants, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and has taught in Los Angeles, New York and Leipzig. We think this visit will be his first time in Tucson!
- You may have met Sharon Wahl at Tucson Essay Club events, but if not, do not fear her power. She uses it for good, mostly. Wahl is a writer and documentary film producer. Her collection of love stories inspired by classic philosophy texts, Everything Flirts, won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award and is on the longlist for the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Her stories, essays, and poems have appeared in Harper’s, the Iowa Review, the Chicago Tribune, Harvard Review, Pleiades, Wigleaf, and other periodicals. She is currently writing Bitter Tales, a collection interlacing fiction and memoir. Sharon studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan, math at MIT, and writing at Washington University in St. Louis and the Clarion Workshop. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband, documentary filmmaker and writer Jonathan VanBallenberghe. In 2006 they started Open Lens Productions, a video production company. Follow this LINK for a look at their latest documentary, Almost an Island.
wed feb 4 2026 / Keep it together reading series @ 6:30pm revel wine bar (416 e 9th st) / gabriel dozal and ted mcloof
- This isn’t an official Tucson Essay Club event but it’s cool and you should come!
january 25 2026 / tucson essay movie club @ 7pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat. lydia paar and her two favorite episodes of the x-files
JANUARY 23 2026 / DOUBLE NEGATIVE PRESENTS AN EVENING OF EKPHRASIS FEAT. DANA DIEHL, ANDER MONSON, AND MIKE POWELL @ 6:30PM AT WAVE ARCHIVE (197 TOOLE)
- This isn’t an official Tucson Essay Club event but it’s cool and you should come!
january 8 2026 / write together / club social hour @ 6 :30pm-8:30pm slow body brewing 831 E 17th St
- From 6:30-7:30 we’ll write together for an hour, followed by a social hour 7:30-8:30. We have a specific prompt which you’re welcome to take on OR you can work on whatever you’re working on.
jan 2 / work talks 2 feat. maddie norris, lucinda bliss, and alison deming, 6pm reilly beer garden
december 13 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / feat ander monson and the finest christmas movie of all time, finland’s rare exports (2010)
- This Very Special Episode of Tucson Essay Movie Club will feature my favorite Christmas movie, 2010’s superb anti-Christmas horror fable from Finland, Rare Exports. It’s a wild damn ride. It’s very kid-friendly if you don’t mind some (very nonsexual) male nudity. It’s extremely Finnish. Also check out director Jalmari Helander’s feature film, 2022’s blood-spattered Nazi-killing spectacular, Sisu, which is getting a sequel that comes out this month!
novEMBER 23 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / FEATURING PATRI AND LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)
- In a world where suburban moms suddenly remember they’re trained assassins, reindeer get hit by cars, and a pee-shooting doll saves the day, a bleached-blonde Geena Davis takes up her sniper rifle, and Samuel L. Jackson steals every motherfuckin’ scene. Saving the world has never been this festive. Part Christmas movie, part amnesia thriller, part unhinged buddy comedy, watch the last gasp of 90s action movies: The Long Kiss Goodnight.
nov 15 / potluck for tucson essay club members (thanks allie leach!)
Oct 7 / Work Talks 1 @ 7pm Wave Archive, 197 Toole / featuring Ander Monson, leah mensch, and Katie Jean Shinkle
- Work Talk Nights feature 10-minute presentations by 2-4 writers who are Excited About Something They Want to Tell You About. Maybe they’re working on or writing about these things. Maybe they’re stupid things. Who cares as long as they are excited and have thoughts they want to share! These presentations should typically be brief and more casual than readings. More like sharing something cool with people who have good taste and like weird obsessions and work in progress (Tucson Essay Club members). Visuals are welcome, almost expected. Props are welcome. Want to do something weird? We’re down. Open to the public. RSVP appreciated but not required.
- This night will feature: BAD MEN (KATIE JEAN SHINKLE), KATE BRAVERMAN (LEAH MENSCH), AND A MICHIGAN 1995 SIMULATOR (ANDER MONSON)
oct 26 / tucson essay movie club @ 8pm casa video, 2905 e speedway / featuring megan campbell and angel heart (1987)
- Tucson Essay Movie Club nights feature a movie with a brief introductory essay by someone who has some Thoughts and Feelings about the movie. The host will talk/read/essay/present about the movie for 5-10 minutes, then we’ll turn on the movie together and watch it. It’s Casa Video (which if you don’t know is one of the best bars in Tucson and also THE video rental store in Tucson), which is a public space. It can get loud. Sometimes people don’t pay that much attention to what’s on the screens. It’s ok. If you want to just watch and socialize, that’s cool. If you want to watch and write, that’s cool (in which case bring a laptop and headphones). There are usually food trucks. There is coffee and beer and non alcoholic stuff. Stay for the whole movie or just for the first hour. We think these will be super fun and popular, and if so we’ll do more of these in the future for sure. They are open to the public so anyone can come! RSVP appreciated but not required.
oct 24 / Kate Braverman Death Day event @ 7PM, 2902 E. WAVERLY / open to all but rsvp requested / FEATURING YOU / BRING SOMETHING SHORT (ONE PAGE) WRITTEN TO OR ABOUT SOMEONE WHO IS GONE / WE WILL BURN THESE AFTER READING (OR BURN THEM WITHOUT READING IF YOU JUST WANT TO BURN YOURS THAT IS COOL EITHER WAY THE WORDS WILL BE RELEASED). BRING A SNACK OR A DRINK TO SHARE / this is a slightly spooky event / details here
Sept 7 / Tucson Essay Movie Club @ 8pm Casa Video, 2905 E Speedway, featuring Manuel Muñoz and 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon
- Tucson Essay Movie Club nights will feature a movie with a brief introductory essay by someone who has some Thoughts and Feelings about the movie. The host (for our first edition, Manuel Muñoz) will talk/read/essay/present about the movie for 5-10 minutes, then we’ll turn on the movie together and watch it. It’s Casa Video (which if you don’t know is one of the best bars in Tucson and also THE video rental store in Tucson), which is a public space. It can get loud. Sometimes people don’t pay that much attention to what’s on the screens. It’s ok. If you want to just watch and socialize, that’s cool. If you want to watch and write, that’s cool (in which case bring a laptop and headphones). There are usually food trucks. There is coffee and beer and non alcoholic stuff. Stay for the whole movie or just for the first hour. We think these will be super fun and popular, and if so we’ll do more of these in the future for sure. They are open to the public so anyone can come! RSVP appreciated but not required.