The 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (DBF) will include something for everyone. More than 250 renowned authors and many talented performers will join festival attendees for a weekend celebration of literature, music, food, and fun.
The festival will be Labor Day weekend, August 29-31, on and around the downtown Decatur Square.
“We’re thrilled to have gotten such a wide range of talent to appear at the festival,” said DBF Executive Director Daren Wang. “We’re proud to call ourselves the most diverse literary event in Georgia.”
Book lovers can pick up a best seller at the book market, which will include more than 100 exhibitors, or find hidden treasures at the 17th annual Atlanta Fine and Collectible Book Fair, presented by the Georgia Antiquarian Booksellers Association (GABA). The fair hosts booksellers from all over the United States, Canada, and England and specializes in rare, collectible, and out-of-print books.
The Big Read booth in the book market will be selling copies of this year’s Big Read selection for Atlanta, “The Great Gatsby.” The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts project designed to increase literary reading, particularly among young people. Attendees will be encouraged to buy a copy of the classic novel for themselves and to purchase books that will be donated to at-risk youth.
Running enthusiasts can meet and run with Atlanta running legend and former Olympic athlete Jeff Galloway during the DBF Fun Run. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at his store, Phidippides, located at 1544 Piedmont Rd. in Midtown, and will wind through Ansley Park. Jeff will then do a talk and book signing at 11 a.m. at the AJC Tent on the corner of Ponce de Leon and Clairemont Avenues.
Other festival highlights include the Sunday evening performance by Patterson Hood, lead singer of the Drive-By Truckers; Brooks and Company Dance’s performance based on Shirley Jackson’s riveting short story “The Lottery,” set to Stravinsky’s “The Rites of Spring;” and underground cartoonist and iconoclast Skip Williamson at Vinson Gallery, which will feature his paintings, prints, and comic strips.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical is the largest independent book festival in the country and one of the 10 largest overall. Each year, more than 250 authors and 50,000 festival goers crowd the historic downtown Decatur Square to enjoy book signings, author readings, panel discussions, an interactive children’s area, live music, parades, cooking demonstrations, poetry slams, writing workshops, and more.
Interviews available upon request.
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