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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Decatur Book Fest: Who do you love?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Decatur Book Festival, sponsored by the AJC, starts Friday night, and I am psyched. If you didn’t go last year, and you care about books, you need to block out some serious chunks of time over the weekend and prepare to immerse yourself.
Last year was a blast, with more than 50,000 people wandering from venue to venue, soaking up that Decatur vibe, listening to best-selling authors, children’s story-telling, musical performances and cooking demonstrations. There’s almost too much good stuff this year, like the heyday of Music Midtown, when you had two and sometimes three great acts on all at the same time. You can get over to their website and check out the schedule yourself, but here’s a smattering:
Charles Frazier. This year’s biggest “get” is the acclaimed author of “Cold Mountain” and “Thirteen Moons.” I haven’t made it to “Moons” yet, but “Mountain” was wonderful. He’s giving the keynote address at 8 p.m. Saturday in Presser Hall at Agnes Scott, and as a bonus, former AJC book editor (and a close personal friend of this blog) Teresa Weaver will conduct a Q & A with Frazier.
Diana Gabaldon. The author of the “Outlander” series of novels (romance, time travel, lots of ideas) has an intense fan base. Last year when she was here, the audience was like tween girls awaiting the cast of “High School Musical.” 4:15 p.m. Saturday and 3:45 p.m. Sunday. I get to introduce her on Saturday. Just had to throw that in.
Terry Brooks. Dear Mr. Fantasy/ play us a tune/ You are the one/ who can make us all glad. 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Kinky Friedman. The Kinkster. Former leader of the Texas Jewboys rock band, now author of a successful string of comic mystery novels best described as delightfully shambling. Known for a salty sense of humor and a penchant for cee-gars. This is a keynote speaker? I’m there. 8 p.m. Friday at Presser.
Other close personal friends of this blog: Jack Wilkinson, 10 a.m. Saturday; Kathy Hogan Trochek, appearing as her altar ego Mary Kay Andrews, 1:45 p.m. Saturday.
Also of note: The AJC’s Hank Klibanoff, Pulitzer-winning author of “The Race Beat,” 10 a.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; the AJC’s Julia Wallace , 3 p.m. Saturday; Emory’s Pulitzer-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, 3 p.m. Saturday.
Melissa Fay Greene. So awesome, she gets her own blog entry tomorrow.
The Big Parade. They’re calling it Krewe for the 2007 DBF, and it’s set for 6 p.m. Sunday in the Decatur square. Book clubs, bookstores, libraries, or ragtag author fan clubs are encouraged to form krewes, as in Mardi Gras, and march around paying tribute to whatever they want to pay tribute to. Sounds like a big goofy mob-up to end it all.
Did you go to DBF last year? What did you think? Who are you looking forward to this year?
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