Book fest details unveiled
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A musical tribute to Eudora Welty, a wrestling match and appearances by British thriller writer Lee Child, Pulitzer Prize-winning Atlanta journalist Douglas Blackmon and novelist Robert Olen Butler will be among the fourth annual Decatur Book Festival highlights during Labor Day weekend.
On Monday, the festival released a list of more than 160 authors (from a roster that will swell to 300) who will converge on the Decatur square, and points nearby, Sept. 4-6, along with an expected 65,000 or more literature lovers.
This year’s poster, also unveiled Monday, speaks to the power of what it claims is “The King of All Book Festivals,” with a giant green Godzilla-like creature with a book-shaped head and a bookmark tongue spewing fiery prose over Decatur’s historic courthouse and its adjoining businesses.
Festival executive director Daren Wang said the ’50s-style movie poster, created by Lenz Inc. art director Scott Sanders, fits the spirit of this year’s offerings perfectly.
“We want the festival to be a surprise, a departure,” Wang said. “It’s really lively, with a lot of nice little Easter eggs in it.”
Among the special events:
? Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kate Campbell, Claire Holley and Atlantan Caroline Herring will perform an encore of their concert tribute to Welty, first staged in April in her hometown of Jackson, Miss., in honor of the 100th anniversary of the author’s birth.
“They had such a good time that Mary Chapin Carpenter approached the festival about repeating the event here,” Wang said.
The concert will be Sept. 5 at Agnes Scott College’s Presser Hall.
? Cultural provocateur Michael Muhammad Knight (whose novel “The Taqwacores” has been called a “ ‘Catcher in the Rye’ for young Muslims”) and 70-something professional wrestling legend Abdullah the Butcher will square off in an outdoor match.
? Sir Harold Evans, author of “The American Century” and former president of Random House, will give the keynote address at Presser Hall. It’s one of several talks on the future of literature and journalism amid a difficult economy.
? The Emory Arts & Science Jam features science graduate students presenting their theses or research using the poetry slam techniques.
? The Escape, the popular teen stage, expands to two days, hosting best-selling authors for discussions on topics such as “Werewolves vs. Vampires.”
? The Southern Foodways Alliance presents a picnic Sunday evening to explore the intersection of international cuisines in the South, set to live music.
? Local writers get double the exposure, with poets at the Java Monkey Stage and prose writers at Twain’s Stage.
? Also appearing: novelist Rick Bragg, Kathy Reichs (Fox’s “Bones” is loosely based on her novels) poets Edward Hirsch and Thomas Lux and religion author Barbara Brown Taylor.
The festival will feature book signings, readings, panel discussions, an interactive children’s area, live music, parades, cooking demonstrations, poetry slams, writing workshops and more. Information: www.decaturbook
festival.com.
