Reporters Take Up The Pen: Arizona Journalists Who Became Authors

The Arizona chapter of PEN America is excited to partner with the Society of Professional Journalists to co-host a panel of Arizona-based journalists who became authors.

Join us to learn how these local journalists moved to long-form writing, shifted their creative processes, and took the path to publication. How were they inspired to write their books, and how did their processes draw upon, or differ from, standard journalism techniques? The panelists will read excerpts from their books. Event entry is free.

Participants

A man with curly hair wearing a blue checkered shirt and jeans leans against a black pillar. He has a jacket draped over his shoulder and stands outside near a storefront with glass windows.

Leo W. Banks
Former Arizona Star reporter
Author of Double Wide, and a sequel, the blockbuster Western Writers of America double Spur award winner for Best First Novel and Best Contemporary Western and True West Magazine’s Best Western Crime Novel of the Year.

A person with long brown hair and glasses smiles while holding a book titled Off the Air. They wear a red shirt with a cactus and the words Get Stuck in a Book. The background features greenery and a wooden fence.

Christina Estes
Emmy-award-winning reporter at NPR, KJZZ, etc.
Author of Off the Air and The Story That Wouldn’t Die

An older woman with short white hair smiles while standing outdoors. She is wearing a patterned black and white blouse. Theres a building wall in the background with some greenery.

Pam Hait
Reporter for national, regional and local Arizona publications
Author of more than a dozen nonfiction books

A person with short, brown hair is smiling slightly at the camera. They are wearing a blue shirt. Behind them is a blurred background with wooden shelves filled with assorted books.

John Washington
Reporter at Arizona Luminaria
Author of The Case for Open Borders, and The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum and the US-Mexican Border and Beyond

An older man with gray hair and a serious expression is wearing a black blazer over a black shirt. The background is a plain gray.

Steve Krafft
Former Fox 10 reporter
Author of Won’t Somebody Play With Annabelle Kay?