National Writers Union, Tucson Chapter

National Writers Union,
Tucson Chapter

The National Writers Union national office in New York can provide you with contract assistance and help with grievances. Our Tucson, Arizona, chapter is here to answer questions; update you on issues like copyright protection and how new technology affects writers; and help you make contact with other members at events like our Friday breakfasts and our Monday readings.

Words and Work: a New Weekly NWU Tucson Podcast

words_and_work

In addition to our monthly reading and open mic, the Tucson chapter of the National Writers Union is now presenting a weekly broadcast program and podcast on union and writer’s issues titled “Words and Work.” Hosted by NWU member Ted Prezelski, it features interviews with authors and labor leaders.

It’s broadcast at 11:30 a.m. on Sundays on Downtown Radio. It’s at 99.1 on the FM dial but it’s LPFM which means that it reaches only a few miles outside of Downtown Tucson. It can also be heard streaming at downtownradio.org.

The podcast is posted the Monday after the broadcast. It can be found on Anchor, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic and Spotify. Please see the links below.

Guests so far have been David Hill (writer and 1^st Vice-President of the NWU), A. J. Flick (free-lance journalist, former crime reporter for the daily Tucson Citizen), Fred Yamashita (Executive Director, Arizona AFL-CIO), Lydia Otero (historian and author), and the organizers of the United Campus Workers of Arizona (CWA).

Links to the podcasts:

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/ted-prezelski
Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/words-and-work
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81MTdiMjY5NC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/3435puy4
RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/words-and-work-WPDb0k
Spotify: Words and Work

Check Out the National Writers Union Website

You’ll find it at www.nwu.org. You can use it to:

Build your talent profile on our new searchable database
Submit news items about your writing—or any relevant event—for publication by tagging your NWU chapter.
Apply for a press pass
Renew your membership
Request contract advice

The National Writers Union will be hosting a reading and open mic on Monday, September 19, starting at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be held both in person and on Zoom (information below).

Our featured reader this month will be author and historian Lydia R. Otero. Lydia will discuss how local and lived experiences inspire their writing agenda. They will also provide insight into the publication process that resulted in each of their books. La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwestern City (University of Arizona Press, 2010) focused on a 1966 urban renewal project, which targeted the most densely populated 80 acres in Arizona. In the Shadows of the Freeway: Growing Up Brown & Queer in 2019 (Planet Earth Press) merges personal memoir and the historical archive to investigate formative aspects of the author's childhood such as environmental racism and unresolved intergenerational trauma. Otero’s book compilation, Notitas: Select Columns from the Tucson Citizen was released in 2021. The columns were written by Alva B. Torres, one of the most formidable resistance fighters to the destruction targeting Tucson's barrios in the late 1960s.

The open mic is for spoken word only, but is open to all forms of spoken word (fiction, essays, poetry, articles, polemics, etc.)

The meeting will be held at the Pima Area Labor Federation Office at 5630 E Pima St. in Tucson, which is a block east of Craycroft Road (Pima is between Grant and Speedway). It is on the south side of the street and ample parking is available both behind the building and on its east side. There is also limited parking directly in front of the building.

For the Zoom link, please contact nwutucson@yahoo.com.