If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And you’ve got to hand it to the Decatur Book Festival for making the best of a bad situation. The latest hiccup: Former White House photographer Pete Souza has tested positive for COVID, so the keynote speech has been canceled.
In 2021, the Decatur Book Festival (DBF) was one of the few local annual events to brave COVID-19 fears and hold an in-person event. Granted, the scope was dramatically reduced from previous years’ events, but it hosted some significant authors, including Carol Anderson and Robert Olen Butler, and it served to stick a flag in the ground and say, “We’re still here.”
Even in 2020, when in-person events were out of the question for everybody, organizers produced a month-long series of video web events with big-name writers such as Jericho Brown, Roxane Gay and Ron Rash.
With a new board president, a new program director and a reduction in COVID-19 protocols, this year’s festival takes place Oct. 1 at First Baptist Church of Decatur, and it was on track to be a bit of a reset.
“As soon as we get through this year’s festival we’re going to start serious discussions on how we continue to move the festival forward,” said Alison L. Weissinger, board president and director of DeKalb County Public LIbrary. “Our big focus is going to be on the long-term stability of the festival, the sustainability. A lot of it will be determined by assessing how things go this year. What did people like, what did people miss, then try to figure out the next steps.”
Now if only the weather will cooperate.
“We’ve had a long run of great weather for festivals past, and this might be the year that it could be a bit challenging,” said Weissinger. “We just hope it doesn’t quell the crowds too much and folks come out and enjoy the festival and focus on the programming because that’s what it’s about — books and stories and authors and readers.”
The day-long event will feature 16 author panels on three stages with 45 authors — or more than 60 if you count the moderators, said program director Denise Auger. Auger is adult services manager for the Gwinnett Library System in charge of programming author events and has been a long-time volunteer with the festival helping coordinate booksellers.
“I tried really hard to have moderators who … had a book that might not necessarily fall between that April and October timeline we were (seeking) for authors,” said Auger. “It’s a chance for them to talk about their books a little bit. It also helps the booksellers have more product to sell and the guests have more authors to come and meet.”
One of the programming challenges Auger faced this year was a reduction in the pool of authors from which she had to choose.
“Most of the publishers are not sending a lot of people out on tour this year,” she said. “People are getting trained to enjoy virtual author events. I’m eager to see if people are ready to be brave, come out and really enjoy themselves with other folks and come back to festivals — not just the book festival, but all festivals.”
That’s one reason the festival has such a strong local and regional flavor this year.
“What publishers were offering me were people for whom the ride wasn’t terrible,” she said, noting that the festival does not pay authors’ travel expenses.
Starting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, the festival will feature 10 panels on two stages for adults, and six panels on the children’s stage, all taking place inside the church. By the children’s stage there will also be a craft table for kids to entertain themselves between sessions. Masks will be required indoors.
On the church grounds there will be food trucks, a stage featuring live music and theatrical performances, and 14 tents manned by the likes of Emory University, Agnes Scott College, Eagle Eye Book Store, Charis Books, A Cappella Books, DeKalb Library, Poets Corner and Atlanta Writers Club.
“We just hope that the weather gods smile on us,” said Weissinger.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
DBF Highlights
Georgia Politics Past & Present. With the midterm elections little more than a month away, there’s no better time to talk politics with three AJC experts. The panel includes Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich, who recently released a collection of cartoons called “The Twisted History of the GOP.” He’ll be joined by political reporter Greg Bluestein, author of “Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly of the GOP,” and reporter Ernie Suggs, author of “The Many Lives of Andrew Young.” Robin Morris, author of “Goldwater Girls to Reagan Women,” moderates. 9:30 a.m., Sanctuary
Credit: Berkley
Credit: Berkley
Weaving Fact and Fiction. Former WSB-TV news anchor John Pruitt applies his inside knowledge of broadcast journalism and crime reporting to his debut novel “Tell It True” about a pair of journalists investigating a murder in the 1960s. He’s joined by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of “Take My Hand,” about forced sterilization in ‘70s-era Alabama. Also on the panel is Ernesto Mestre-Reed, author of “Sacrificio,” about HIV-positive counterrevolutionaries plotting the violent overthrow of Castro in 1998 Cuba. Lynn Cullen, author of “Mrs. Poe” and “The Sisters of Summit Avenue,” moderates. 2:30 p.m. Carreker Hall
Credit: Levine Querido
Credit: Levine Querido
Want to Know a Secret? Three novelists for young adult readers discuss the power of secrets. Panelists include New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong, author of “Foul Lady Fortune,” about a pair of mismatched spies investigating murders in ‘30s-era Shanghai. She’s joined by Jim Grimsley, author of the love story “The Dove in the Belly,” and E. Lockhart, whose new book, “Family of Liars,” is a prequel to her New York Times bestselling thriller “We Were Liars.” Rosemary Magee, author of “Family Impromptu,” moderates. 3 p.m., Children’s Stage
A Book Buffet: A Culinary Arts Panel. What do kimchi, sourdough bread and beer have in common? The answer is fermentation. Julia Skinner explores how the process has shaped our lives and culture in her new book “Our Fermented Live.” She joins “Where’s the Beef?” author Jessica Formicola and “A Return to Ireland” author Judith McLoughlin in this session moderated by Belinda Smith-Sullivan, author of “Southern Sugar.” 4 p.m., Sanctuary
FESTIVAL PREVIEW
Decatur Book Festival. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1. Free. First Baptist Church of Decatur, 308 Clairmont Ave., Decatur. decaturbookfestival.com.
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