Program Highlight:
Bruce Covey
Poet Bruce Covey's most recent volume of poems is Glass Is Really a Liquid. He will do a reading of... Read more
AJC Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical to Feature Business & Personal Economy, Civil Rights, and Parenting Tracks
Atlanta Track to Feature All-star Lineup of Local Authors
Star-studded Poetry Track Features Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey, Edward Hirsch, Thomas Lux, and Other Notable Poets
August 26, 2009 (Decatur) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (DBF) features an array of events centered around a variety of popular themes, including business and personal economy, civil rights, Atlanta authors, and parenting themes.
“The festival features an exciting range of new events centered around important, interesting, and entertaining topics,” said DBF Executive Director Daren Wang. “People can easily find events on the tracks that interest them by checking the web site.”
In view of today’s economic uncertainties, a Business and Personal Economy track will feature presentations about business leadership, living frugally, and being environmentally conscious without breaking the bank. Leadership guru Alan Deutschman, author of The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, will discuss his latest work, Walk the Walk: The #1 Rule for Real Leaders.
This year’s festival features an outstanding array of civil rights events, headlined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Slavery by Another Name Douglas Blackmon. He will discuss how African-Americans were re-enslaved in the period from the Civil War to World War II Saturday on the First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary stage at 3 p.m.
Saturday at 11:15 a.m. on the Decatur Library Stage, Emory film professor Matthew H. Bernstein will take a critical look at film coverage of the infamous case of the 1913 rape and murder of Atlanta factory worker Mary Phagan, which led to the conviction and lynching of her Jewish boss, Leo Frank.
The civil rights track also features Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, a story about a young woman's moral and political awakening in the early days of the civil rights movement. She will appear with two other debut authors at the Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage Saturday at 3 p.m. The civil rights track will be closed by Calvin Johnson, who spent 16 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and was freed in 1999 when the Georgia Innocence Project used DNA to prove his innocence. Sunday on the Old Courthouse stage at 3:45 p.m., Johnson will discuss his life story and memoir.
The festival also features a wonderfully diverse parenting track, which will feature presentations from former All-Pro Captain of the Denver Broncos Karl Mecklenberg, Bob Lancer, who hosts the WSB radio show “Bob Lancer's Parenting Solutions,” radio talk show host Shellie Tomlinson, author and stay-at-home-dad Ad Hudler, Guggenheim Fellow Robin Hemley, and local author Jessica Handler.
An exceptional lineup of Atlanta authors will descend upon the festival this year, including award-winning mystery author and playwright David Fulmer, hit teen authors Lauren Myracle and Terra Elan McVoy, prolific mystery author Stephanie Bond, top-selling author, magazine columnist, and writing instructor Hollis Gillespie, Georgia Author of the Year Award winner Joshilyn Jackson, and many others.
The festival also features an amazing, star-studded poetry lineup, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey, President of the Guggenheim Foundation Edward Hirsch, Guggenheim Fellow Thomas Lux, national poetry slam champion Patricia Smith, and many more talented and distinguished poets.
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
