Books & Co.

Books & Co.

Over the years, Books & Co. has captured some remarkable moments as guests have shared their thoughts about their work as well as the craft of writing.

In 1993, long before Oprah’s picks and celebrity book clubs, Arizona PBS introduced “Books & Co.,” a series based on a simple premise. We invite writers to join our host to discuss their work and the craft of writing. Over the years, “Books & Co.” has captured some remarkably candid moments as more than 175 guests have shared their thoughts, their moods, even their intellectual quirks.

Join host Álberto Álvaro Ríos, ASU Regents’ Professor of English, distinguished author and poet (and also the very first “Books & Co.” guest in 1993) as he welcomes a new guest each week to our Arizona PBS studios for a half-hour of wide-ranging conversations, including fresh faces on the literary scene, as well as established and prominent writers.

Our back-catalog of authors from all literary genres includes familiar names like Sherman Alexie, David Baldacci, Ann Brashares, Clive Cussler, E.L. Doctorow, Diana Gabaldon, Barbara Kingsolver, Yann Martel, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, Jodi Picoult and Anne Rice.

Alberto Álvaro Ríos

Alberto Álvaro Ríos is an award-winning author and Arizona’s Poet Laureate. He joined “Books & Co.” mid-way through the 2009 season.

Ríos is the author of 10 books and chapbooks of poetry, three collections of short stories and a memoir.

Ríos is the recipient of the Western Literature Association Distinguished Achievement Award, the Arizona Governor’s Arts Award, fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Walt Whitman Award, the Western States Book Award for Fiction, six Pushcart Prizes in both poetry and fiction, and inclusion in “The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry,” as well as over 250 other national and international literary anthologies. His work is regularly taught and translated, and has been adapted to dance and both classical and popular music.

Ríos is a Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University, where he has taught for more than 30 years and where he holds the further distinction of the Katharine C. Turner Endowed Chair in English.