Program Highlight:
Tracie Howard
Author Tracie Howard will be sharing excerpts from her most recent novel, Friends & Fauxs. Read more
AJC Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical Adds Modeling Moms Event
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (DBF) is adding a fashion show/contest for “hipster moms” from the community to this year’s already-packed schedule of events. The contest will be part of an appearance by best-selling author Amy Sohn, who will be promoting her sexy, satirical new novel, Prospect Park West, about young mothers living in Brooklyn’s trendy Park Slope neighborhood.
Rather than hiring models to wear designer clothes on a catwalk, the Festival runway will feature local stylish moms wearing their own clothes. Sohn and Camille Wright, owner of the Decatur boutique Kaleidoscope, will judge the contestants’ stylishness and hand out several prizes, including gift certificates to Kaleidoscope, Squash Blossom boutique, and Salon Red hair salon, and an autographed first edition of Prospect Park West.
Sohn’s reading and the modeling moms event will be held at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 at the First Baptist Church Chapel Stage in Decatur. All moms who want to enter the contest must sign up in advance by emailing stylemom@decaturbookfestival.com. Registration will be first-come, first-served and limited, and DBF executive director Daren Wang said he expects slots to fill up very quickly.
“As a frequently style-challenged mom myself, I relish an opportunity to learn what to wear from Decatur moms and MILFs,” Sohn said. “Maybe they will teach me the secrets to hiding my muffin top with a wrap dress instead of a sling wrap. Is it any coincidence that DBF sounds an awful lot like DVF — Diane Von Furstenberg?”
Prospect Park West is about the intersecting lives of four stay-at-home moms: a former movie star, a social climber, a sex kitten, and a hasbian (or former lesbian). The novel has already been bought by Sarah Jessica Parker’s production company to possibly become an HBO series, and the snarky website Gawker has dubbed the book and possible series “Sex and the Stroller.” Lauren Weisberger, author of “The Devil Wears Prada,” blurbed that the book “makes Desperate Housewives look like amateur hour. I started blushing on the first page and didn't ever stop.” In a starred review, Library Journal said Prospect Park West is “sure to appeal to fans of sophisticated chick and mommy lit”.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical is the largest independent book festival in the country and the fourth largest overall. This year, more than 300 authors and tens of thousands of festival goers will 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.
- Fourth Annual DBF Dates Announced
- 2009 Festival Set for Labor Day Weekend
- Sir Harold Evans Confirmed as Keynote Speaker
- Festival to Feature Tractor-Themed Parade
- Mary Chapin Carpenter to Perform
- DBF to Feature Culinary Stars Nathalie Dupree and Shirley Corriher
- Decatur Book Festival Inaugural Book Club Bash Makes Huge Splash
- Writers Conference Returns, Featuring World Class Writers
- Festival to Feature “Good ol’ Girls” Marshall Chapman and Jill McCorkle
- All-star Lineup of Young Adult Authors to Present at Festival
- Festival to Feature David Fulmer’s First Public Reading of Storyville Play
- Top Authors Launching New Books at Festival
- Free Concert, Southern Picnic With International Twist to Close Festival
- Festival to Feature Business & Personal Economy, Civil Rights, and Parenting Tracks
- Festival Adds Modeling Moms Event
- Festival to Feature Dynamic Poetry Track Loaded with Distinguished Talent
