Decatur Book Festival ends relationship with store amid racism allegations

Decatur Book Festival has severed ties with a local bookstore after a viral social media post alleged a racist encounter with the vendor at last weekend’s event.

Atlanta resident Rache (who is Black and declined to share her last name with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution due to privacy concerns) made a Threads post on Saturday warning other festival attendees to avoid Kiss and Tale Romance Bookshop, after they “spoke and acknowledged everyone but the Black shoppers,” she wrote on the social media platform.

On Monday, a representative for the Decatur Book Festival (which was held Oct. 2-3 in downtown Decatur) confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it would not invite Kiss and Tale to participate in future events.

“The Decatur Book Festival is for readers and writers of every background,” Bailee Yarbrough, the festival’s executive director said in an email statement to the AJC. “We expect every exhibitor to make each attendee feel welcome and respected.”

When asked how many attendees complained about Kiss and Tale’s alleged racist treatment, Decatur Book Festival directed the AJC to its original statement. The festival declined to answer any further questions regarding its decision to cut ties with Kiss and Tale.

Kiss and Tale said that they’ve always “worked hard to create a welcoming, inclusive and respectful environment for everyone,” in a statement sent to the AJC Wednesday afternoon.

“We have heard you, and we recognize and understand that we did not provide every one of our individual customers with a positive experience at the recent Decatur Book Festival,” a spokesperson for the store wrote.

Kiss and Tale added that they didn’t intentionally ignore any customer during the festival.

“During the event, we were incredibly busy and focused on managing the lengthy line and checking out our customers. However, we recognize there were moments throughout the day when we failed to properly greet or give everyone the level of attention that we expect of ourselves.”

Rache’s post has since received over 4,000 likes and 300 reposts on Threads, with others commenting about similar treatment from Kiss and Tale. The Decatur store, which opened its brick-and-mortar in 2025 after operating online and at pop-up events, was one of more than 110 exhibitors (17 of them being bookstores) at the Decatur Book Festival’s street fair this year.

Kiss and Tale, run by sisters Jen and Molly Kamrath, is located on West Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Decatur Book Festival said Kiss and Tale has participated in the street fair since 2024, and last weekend’s incident was the first time the store received such complaints at the event.

“Decatur is an area where there’s such diversity, so you don’t expect to be excluded,” Rache told the AJC Monday afternoon.

The 32-year-old professor said she visited Kiss and Tale’s booth Saturday afternoon and noticed a store employee interacting with a white customer while disregarding the Black one.

When it was Rache’s turn in line, she noticed she was treated similarly to the other Black customer.

“I don’t expect a full-blown conversation, but there’s no greeting, no acknowledgment, no eye contact,” Rache said. “It’s like I was completely invisible to her. It felt like she was deliberately ignoring me and the Black customer that I saw her interact with before me.”

Shortly after, Rache stayed in the area to observe the Kiss and Tale employee’s interaction with other customers and noticed another Black person having the same interaction. That’s when Rache noticed a “pattern” and felt inclined to post about it.

Kiss and Tale noted that, regardless of their intention, they are “taking this very seriously, and we will do better.”

“We love, respect and appreciate all of our customers, regardless of race, background or identity. We are proud to serve a diverse community of readers and customers here in Decatur, and we want everyone to feel safe and welcome with us.”

Rache, who attended Decatur Book Festival for the first time last weekend, said the alleged incident won’t deter her from returning. She appreciates the festival’s swift decision. Kiss and Tale said Decatur Book Festival never reached out to them directly about the complaint.

“We respect the Decatur Book Festival’s decision, as it is well within their rights to partner with whomever they choose, for any reason,” a spokesperson for Kiss and Tale told the AJC via email. “However, we were never given the opportunity to directly address the situation, provide context or collaborate in any capacity. We would have appreciated the ability to converse directly with the event organizers and be notified, personally.”