The 2022 Zócalo Book Prize Celebrates Human Connectedness

For 12 Years, We Have Honored Excellence in Nonfiction Exploring Community and Social Cohesion

Since 2011, Zócalo Public Square’s annual book prize has recognized the U.S.-published nonfiction book that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or undermine human connectedness and social cohesion.

Our mission is to connect people to ideas and to each other, which is why we have chosen to honor authors who explore these themes for over a decade. In 2022, as we rediscover and reinvigorate public spaces after many months of isolation, we look forward to learning from some of the top thinkers from around the world, …

The 2022 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize Explores Place | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The 2022 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize Explores Place

Since 2012, We’ve Honored Works That Visit Landscapes Both Real and Imagined

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is now accepting submissions for our …

Scientists Don’t Have to Be Heroes | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Scientists Don’t Have to Be Heroes

How NASA and ASU Astronomer Lindy Elkins-Tanton Is Dismantling the Personality-Driven Culture of the Research Laboratory

Two decades ago, NASA’s Psyche mission principal investigator and ASU Interplanetary Initiative vice president Lindy Elkins-Tanton was working toward her PhD at MIT. It was a place she loved, but …

What Science Loses to LGBTQ Bias | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

What Science Loses to LGBTQ Bias

A Groundbreaking Study Reveals Widespread Discrimination and Suggests Just How Much Poorer STEM Fields Are as a Result

In 1981, an influential letter was published in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Written by Shirley Malcom, then the head of AAAS’ …

What Is the Meaning of Life? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

What Is the Meaning of Life?

For Sir Paul Nurse, Creativity and Community Are Essential Building Blocks

What does it take to create meaning in our lives? According to Sir Paul Nurse, a Nobel laureate geneticist and author of What Is Life?, supporting family and community as …

How Can Inventors Respond to the Real-World Effects of Their Inventions? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How Can Inventors Respond to the Real-World Effects of Their Inventions?

A More Holistic Approach to the Field Can Make Technology Better for Society

What is it like to be an inventor? Are inventors responsible for the societal ramifications of their creations? And how could a more holistic approach to innovation lead future scientists …