AJC Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical Announces Shawn Mullins as Final Act of Weekend

Homegrown Singer-Songwriter to Close Festival

Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins will perform on Sunday, September 2, as the finale for the 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival, Presented by DeKalb Medical (DBF), festival organizers recently announced.

“We’re thrilled to bring such a world-class talent to the DBF stage,” said Daren Wang, DBF Executive Director. “We expect Shawn’s eclectic repertoire and knack for storytelling to be a hit with the hometown crowd, as always.”

The festival is set for Labor Day weekend, August 31-September 2, in downtown Decatur. The second annual literary festival will host multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, as well as many other award-winning and best-selling authors.

Shawn Mullins discovered his love for music while attending Clarkston High School in Decatur, where he met his friend and mentor Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls. Later, during his stay at North Georgia College and State University on an Army R.O.T.C. scholarship, he developed as a solo musician and bandmaster of the military marching band.

He released his first self-titled album in 1989 while serving as a member of the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry. Following several years of releasing records on his own, Shawn would release “Soul’s Core” in 1998 with Columbia records. The platinum album’s Top Ten hit, “Lullaby,” earned Shawn a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Shawn Mullins will be among many recognizable names at the festival. This year’s featured author, and one of two keynote address speakers, is Charles Frazier—National Book Award winner for Cold Mountain. At his keynote event, Frazier and Cherokee Indian translator Myrtle Driver will be interviewed on-stage by Atlanta magazine Book Editor Teresa Weaver. Driver translated Frazier’s newest book—Thirteen Moons—into Cherokee. It is only the second book ever translated into the Cherokee language, with the other being the Bible. Following the on-stage interviews, Cherokee warriors will perform a traditional Cherokee dance.

The opening keynote speaker is legendary American political satirist/humorist, and one-time candidate for Governor of Texas, Kinky Friedman. The iconoclast and raconteur is known for, among other things, his best-selling crime fiction series and his political wranglings, including his newest, You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can’t Make ‘Em Think.

Joining Frazier at DBF are past and present Pulitzer Prize winners Hank Klibanoff, Natasha Trethewey, Claudia Emerson, and Robert Olen Butler, as well as James Beard Foundation Award winner Chef Scott Peacock. Other featured authors include Sherman Alexie, Terry Brooks, Roy Blount, Jr., Ferrol Sams, Bobby Braddock, Billy Childish, Chuck Klosterman, Diana Gabaldon, and Norman Pearlstine.

The annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival had its inaugural festival over Labor Day weekend 2006. An estimated 50,000 people attended and participated in talks, readings, live musical performances, cooking demonstrations, children’s activities, and much more.