Aspiring writers, look no further! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (DBF) is hosting the Writers Conference, a series of writing workshops designed to provide hopeful authors with tips on how to improve their writing and get their work published.
DBF will be held Labor Day Weekend, August 29-31, on and around the downtown Decatur Square.
The Writers Conference, presented by Poets & Writers and Agnes Scott College, begins Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. with a keynote address by C. Michael Curtis, fiction editor of “Atlantic Monthly,” and author Elizabeth Cox.
DBF Executive Director Daren Wang said the Writers Conference was a great success last year.
“We’re excited about Poets & Writers’ contributions to the Writers Conference this year,” said Wang. “We’re happy to be a venue for aspiring authors to learn and grow.”
The Writers Conference Friday afternoon workshops will begin at 4 p.m. at the Alston Building and Evans Hall at Agnes Scott. The workshops will feature notable authors, poets, and journalists presenting on a variety of topics. Some highlights include novelist Doug Crandell’s “Ye Olde Thyme Writing Workshoppe and Petting Zoo,” which will include live animals; David Fulmer’s “Sex & Violence: Writing About Them Without Sounding Like a Virgin Pacifist”; and “Poets & Writers Presents Rant Without Whining: Regie Cabico on the Art of Slam Poetry, for Teens Only.”
Saturday, writers are invited to follow the Writers Conference track, which includes “Angels, Fireflies… and Buffy. Writing (About) Good TV,” with Rhonda Wilcox from 1:45-2:30 p.m. in the Library Conference Room; a publishing workshop with Bram Hsieh from 4:15-5:30 p.m. at the Decatur Conference Center Auditorium; Patrick Hughes’ rant “I Hate Books,” from 5:30-6:15 p.m. at the Decatur Presbyterian Chapel, about all the bad things that go along with publishing a book; and “A Critique Group Success Story” with Karen Abbott, Joshilyn Jackson, and Anna Schachner at 5:15 p.m. at Twain’s Billiards and Tap.
Saturday night, Doug Crandell will host the Writers Conference Happy Hour at Twain’s from 6-8 p.m. The happy hour will include live music, a wet flannel t-shirt contest, and a kissing booth with wax lips, womaned by Hollis Gillespie.
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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