Have dinner with your favorite authors Tickets are now on sale for the second annual Tucson Festival of Books' Author's Table Dinner, Friday, March 12, on the University of Arizona campus. This is your chance to dine and socialize with dozens of America's leading authors-and to hear from one of its top radio personalities, Scott Simon. Each table at this relaxed, business-casual evening will include one of the authors who will be speaking at the Festival that weekend. Proceeds will benefit literacy programs throughout Southern Arizona. Tucson's top humorist, Arizona Daily Star cartoonist David Fitzsimmons, will be your master of ceremonies. Keynote speaker Scott Simon is the Peabody Award-winning host of National Public Radio's long-running "Weekend Edition Saturday." He is the best-selling author of several books of fiction, including "Windy City," a political comedy set in his hometown of Chicago, and non-fiction, including his memoir, "Home and Away." Tickets to The Author's Table Dinner are $125 each, $55 of which is tax-deductible. You can order tickets online at the tucsonfestivalofbooks.org website. You'll be given the option to pay by credit card or PayPal account. You are invited to get involved! Volunteering at the Tucson Festival of Books is great way to be a part of the community and experience the satisfaction of supporting literacy. Spots are limited, so sign up today! It takes less than five minutes to register as a volunteer and it can all be done online through the application form. Volunteers must be 18 years old and can choose to help out in a number of ways, including organizing other volunteers, escorting authors on the UA campus, and helping with the entertainment or children's festival activities. Last year's volunteers have expressed how much they enjoyed the experience of meeting authors and working with others to make the festival a success. Volunteers get to be at the "hub" of the excitement and it can be a terrific learning experience, too. More information about volunteering can be found on the web site's volunteer page. Meet author Janis Ian Janis Ian is the Grammy award-winning author of "Society's Child: My Autobiography" (2008), a reflection on her 40 years in the music industry, including her interactions with icons like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. One of her most famous songs, "Society's Child" (1966), examined the inner workings of an interracial relationship and as a result, was boycotted by many radio stations. She is known as a leader and activist within the music industry. Meet author Frank Beddor Frank Beddor is the New York Times bestseller-list author of "The Looking Glass Wars" series, an adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland" written for a teenage audience. The fantasy books, which follow "Alyss" on her quest to rescue Imagination from a cast of beast-like villains, are the subject of numerous online games and forums. Beddor is also the producer of the 1998 comedy "There's Something About Mary" and the founder of Automatic Pictures.