As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (AJC DBF) kicks off it’s fifth annual celebration, keynote speaker and National Book Award winner Jonathan Franzen — who, this month, becomes the first author to grace the cover of TIME magazine since Stephen King in 2000 — leads the list of nationally renowned authors who will launch new books at the Festival.
The Festival will be held Labor Day Weekend, September 3-5, on and around the downtown Decatur Square.
“We couldn’t be happier to be the launching pad for the new releases of so many top authors,” AJC DBF Executive Director Daren Wang said.
Franzen will open the Festival Friday night of Labor Day weekend, September 3, as he launches a national tour for his first book since The Corrections, which won the 2001 National Book Award for fiction. Franzen’s widely anticipated new book, Freedom: A Novel, will be released August 31.
Franzen will present the keynote address Friday, September 3 at 8 p.m. at Agnes Scott College’s Presser Hall in Decatur. The event is free, but tickets are required and can be picked up at the Agnes Scott box office, Blue Elephant Books, Charis Books, Eagle Eye Book Shop, and Little Shop of Stories.
The New York Times bestselling author Cassandra Clare launches her new novel, The Clockwork Angel, at the AJC DBF. The book is the first in a new series, The Infernal Devices, which follows Clare’s popular The Mortal Instruments series that includes City of Ashes and City of Bones. Clare will speak Sunday at 1:15 p.m., at the Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage.
Brandon Sanderson, The New York Times bestselling author of The Hero of Ages and Warbreaker, launches his new novel, The Way of Kings at 3 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage. The novel is the first in his new fantasy series, The Stormlight Archive.
Sanderson will also take part in a presentation at 5 p.m. Saturday at The Escape stage at the Old Courthouse. The program, “Break in Case of Emergency: This Book Could Save Your Life,” targets young adult readers and includes authors talking about books that have impacted their lives.
Other top authors featured at the AJC DBF include four-time National Poetry Slam champion Patricia Smith reading from Blood Dazzler, her collection of poems set just before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Smith’s presentation will be at noon Sunday at the Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey will launch her new book, Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Sunday at 1:15 p.m. at the First Baptist Decatur Carreker Hall Stage.
David Finkel, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for The Washington Post, chronicles the 15-month deployment of the 2-16 Infantry Battalion in Baghdad during 2007 and 2008 in his book, The Good Soldiers, Sunday at 1:15 p.m., at the First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage.
George Dawes Green, author of The Juror and founder of not-for-profit storytelling organization and Public Radio program The Moth, will appear twice during the AJC DBF. “The Influence of Flannery O'Connor and other Insights,” will be at 12:30 p.m. at the Decatur Conference Center Stage (Ballroom B), and “The Moth,” will be at 4:15 p.m. Saturday at Eddie's Attic Stage.
Ridley Pearson, The New York Times bestselling author of a dozen young adult novels, and more than two dozen adult crime fiction novels, will discuss “In Harm’s Way and Other Adventures,” at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, at First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage and “Peter Pan, Kingdom Keepers, and Other Cool Characters,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, at the Children's Stage.
The New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin will talk about her new book, The Heart of the Matter, Saturday at 11:15 at the First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage.
The young and young at heart will gather at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Children’s Stage following the children’s parade to hear Anna Dewdney, author of the Llama Llama children's book series, talk about her new book, Roly Poly Pangolin.
Joyce Maynard, author of the bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, will discuss her new book, The Good Daughters, Saturday at 11:15 a.m. at Decatur High School.
TIME Magazine book critic Lev Grossman, author of the international bestseller, Codex, will discuss The Magicians Sunday at 2:30 p.m., at the First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage.
Award-winning novelist and short fiction author of The Thing Around Your Neck Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be part of “A Storytelling Conversation,” Saturday at 1:45 p.m., at the Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage.
Authors also launching books at this year’s Festival include:
Thank Goodness for our Sponsors!
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This is YOUR festival. We are very grateful for our corporate sponsors, but we count on individual donations to ensure that the festival is free to all. If you are looking forward to this year's festival, please consider joining us in building this great tradition! Any contribution you make will help ensure that this is the best AJC DBF ever. Donate now.
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