Los Angeles artist Britt Warner finds inspiration and a new home in Tucson

“In Tucson, a chubby U of A boy with shaggy hair adjusts his backpack as he and his friend head up to University Boulevard, and he’s saying, ‘Music’s terrible now and the world’s ending, what’s the point?’ as a hummingbird alights upon a palo verde.”

That’s just one of the astute observations about the Old Pueblo that our next guest documents on her social media — and soon, in a new book of poetry and prose titled “In Tucson.”

Britt Warner is not just a writer, though. And not just a poet. She’s something of a jack of all trades. She’s an artist, musician, writer, Pilates instructor and childhood equestrian whose writing is as varied as her interests.

She moved to Tucson after the wildfires in her hometown of Los Angeles, and many of her poems are about acclimating to the desert.

The Show spoke with her about that and more.

Full conversation

BRITT WARNER: I grew up a competitive equestrian rider, so I jumped and missed a ton of school, ended up culminating the junior career at Madison Square Garden in the finals there.

So that focus can be applied to pretty much anything. The creative stuff was so instinctive and just part of who I was and am from the get-go. So I think it can be confusing for people to try to put me in a box, and that’s ultimately their problem. To me, it all makes sense.

LAUREN GILGER: You’re from Los Angeles, right? You spent a lot of time working and living as an artist there?

BRITT WARNER: Yeah, born and raised in LA. I realized for quite a few years I didn’t want to stay in LA and just didn’t know where else I wanted to be. And then in January of 2025, the fires destroyed the towns of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. I lived near Altadena. We had to get out of there.

And my sister-in-law’s best friend lives in Tucson. Her father has a duplex and Airbnb’s one side, and they said, “Come on down, get out of there. Let’s just have you wait it out here.” So that was how I got to Tucson.

LAUREN GILGER: Had you ever been there before?

BRITT WARNER: I, like so many people, have passed through on the 10 on the way to somewhere else, year.

LAUREN GILGER: Right, right.

BRITT WARNER: But no, no. I had no idea what to expect, no expectations. I just remember waking up on that first morning and it was so quiet. And I walked to the nearest cafe and sat down with my journal and coffee and began to write about what I was experiencing and haven’t stopped.

LAUREN GILGER: Were you surprised by your reaction to this place? Did you expect to like it, to love it, to stay?

BRITT WARNER: No, I had no expectations. I just felt a sense of calm. And when I got back to LA, I missed Tucson and began to pack up my life, say my goodbyes to everybody. I took a trip out to Tucson to look at places to live and throw some stuff in storage and fully committed in a way that I never have to another place outside of California and was determined to let another environment shape me for some time.

I remember when I was staying here during the fires and my host was showing me around downtown, there was this sense of people just hanging out. Not running around frantically. It didn’t feel as anxiety-ridden. There was just this sense of peace that called to me. Yeah, here I am.

LAUREN GILGER: So you’re getting to know this place, and it sounds like you’re doing it through your writing. Like you write these kind of interesting little snippets, musings, maybe observations, like little pieces of poetry about Tucson.

When did you start doing that? Was that on that first morning when you woke up in Tucson during the fires?

BRITT WARNER: No, it was a little bit before coming to Tucson when the fires hit. I began posting on Threads because I was trying to process everything in real time, and what better place than social media? I say that tongue in cheek. And then once I moved to Tucson, I didn’t know a ton of people, but wanted a place to put the feelings I was experiencing, the observations I was making, but also it was a way to entertain myself. That’s what writing and art have always been to me, is first and foremost to make myself happy or to figure out exactly what I think. And often I don’t know until I can see it written out in front of me.

LAUREN GILGER: So I want to read a few of these, because they’re sometimes funny, sometimes really serious, sometimes really beautiful. One of my favorites is this one. It says:

"After it rains in Tucson, the smell of creosote seeps through the thinly paned windows, beyond the mesquite shutters, past the saguaro-ribbed ceiling, and into my parched soul,"

Which I love. And that smell of creosote to anyone who lives in the Sonoran Desert is so emblematic of this place.

BRITT WARNER: It’s so distinct. Even before it rains here, the creosote begins to emit a fragrance that is unlike anything else I’ve ever smelled. And it carries a nostalgia for, of course, the people who’ve lived in Arizona forever, but even to those of us who are new to it, it feels emotionally resonant.

LAUREN GILGER: But it helps you, it sounds like, process it and realize what it is that you love about this place by writing it down.

BRITT WARNER: Absolutely. That and just wherever you are in the world, there’s always something you can complain about or find to be problematic. And I find it’s really helpful to continue to notice things as an observer, as an anthropologist, to stay curious, to stay interested, to keep my sense of humor, because I can err on the too-serious side at times. So, yeah, it’s just a lot of fun.

LAUREN GILGER: But some of these are funny. I mean, you also write, “If you’d braved the Trader Joe’s parking lots in LA for as many years as I had, you would move to Tucson, too.”

BRITT WARNER: Funny thing, I went to the Trader Joe’s, the new one off of Broadway here, just the other day with my boyfriend, and he was already like lamenting how crowded the parking lot was here.

And I just looked at him and said, “You have no idea.”

LAUREN GILGER: You write a good amount here about why you moved to Tucson. One says you moved to Tucson "to level up the adaptive traits you’ll need to survive climate change."

BRITT WARNER: And the kindness of strangers.

LAUREN GILGER: And the kindness of strangers. Like, that’s a beautiful contrast there, right?

BRITT WARNER: I will say, the kindness of strangers freaks me out still sometimes, because Tucson does feel like a small town within a city. And I’m used to feeling somewhat anonymous. Like when I want to just disappear into my own world, my own thoughts, I’m used to being able to do that in bigger cities.

And in Tucson, it’s harder because inevitably I’ll run into a million people I know. And I’ve been here for a short time. People are so warm and welcoming, and that’s incredible and just new to somebody who’s used to being guarded from living in a larger city.

LAUREN GILGER: So I know you haven’t been in Tucson all that long, and you’re still sort of trying to figure out how you feel about and in this place, but I mean, so far, like as you’re writing about it, observing it, gathering these thoughts together, especially as you make a book out of it, I mean, how do you think Tucson is changing you?

BRITT WARNER: It’s changed me in that in larger cities like Los Angeles, so many people are trying to do the same thing that it feels oversaturated, and you end up playing shows for all your friends rather than strangers. I feel so embraced here in a way that’s like a full body sigh, where I’m fully myself, creating everything I want, being as weird as I want to be, and I don’t feel shy about it, I don’t feel nervous about how it’s going to look.

LAUREN GILGER: All right. Well, that is Britt Warner, an artist in Tucson. The “In Tucson” book is coming out in October. Britt, thank you so much for coming on The Show. It was great talking to you.

BRITT WARNER: Lauren, thanks for having me.