Charles Frazier to Deliver Keynote Address at AJC Decatur Book Festival

Best-selling author will be joined by Native American translator Myrtle Johnson

Charles Frazier, best-selling author of Cold Mountain, will deliver a keynote address at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival––presented by DeKalb Medical. He will be joined by Myrtle Driver Johnson, who translated his most recent book, Thirteen Moons, into the Cherokee language. Frazier and Johnson will deliver a keynote address Saturday September 1, 2007 at Presser Hall at Agnes Scott College. The festival will be held Labor Day weekend 2007 in downtown Decatur.

Daren Wang, Executive Director of the AJC-DBF, is “thrilled to have such renowned and unique speakers giving the keynote address at the festival.”

Charles Frazier has received the Sue Kaufman Prize from the Academy of Arts and Letters, the Abby Award from Independent Booksellers, and the National Book Award for Cold Mountain, which was on the New York Times best-seller list for well over a year.

Frazier’s interest in supporting efforts to save the Cherokee language led him to Myrtle Driver Johnson, a Cherokee woman raised in a traditional Cherokee speaking home and community. She translated Charles’ book, Thirteen Moons: Removal (Tsogadu Nvdo: Tsigegvwovdisgei) into her native language.

Thirteen Moons: Removal (Tsogadu Nvdo: Tsigegvwovdisgei) is the first work of literature in the English language to be translated into the eastern band of the Cherokee Indian dialect.

Johnson and Frazier have traveled to Raleigh, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Cherokee, N.C. doing bilingual readings from Thirteen Moons and discussing the translation project and language preservation efforts.

The Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian recently recognized Myrtle Driver Johnson when they named her “Beloved Woman,” the highest honor a Cherokee woman can receive, and in June 2007, the Council awarded Charles Frazier the special honor of bestowing the Cherokee name Tsali Digowelisgi, or Charles the Writer, in appreciation for his efforts in preserving the Cherokee language.

Kinky Friedman will kick off the festival with a keynote address Friday August 1, 2007. The festival will be held Labor Day weekend 2007 in downtown Decatur.