By Rosalind Bentley

So you’re looking at the list of authors scheduled to appear at the AJC Decatur Book Festival and you’re overwhelmed with all of the choices. Do you go see this author that you really wanted to see at 1:30 p.m., or do you skip him and go see this other author that you really, really wanted to see — but who is also speaking at 1:30 p.m.? Hmmmm. What’s a book lover to do?

Here are a few suggestions for you; some obvious, others not so. Just some possibilities to consider, unless you’ve figured out how to be in two places at the same time. All locations are in Decatur.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

If you’d come of age right after a coup of your government, what impact would that have on the way you relate to your family? On the way you view yourself? On how you define love? Nigerian author Adichie’s two novels, “Half of a Yellow Sun” and “Purple Hibiscus,” deal with those themes against the backdrop of her home country. A reader sees the brutality and the glory of the land through the eyes and heart of a young writer who knows it intimately and writes about it lyrically. In her latest collection of short stories, “The Thing Around Your Neck,” she looks ever more deeply at the very essence of relationships. Adichie speaks Saturday at 1:45 p.m. at the Decatur Presbyterian Church Sanctuary Stage, 205 Sycamore St.

David Finkel

A longtime reporter for the Washington Post, Finkel is a master of narrative writing. He’s explored what it means for a family to be addicted to television as well as what it means to be a young, unemployed African-American man in Washington, D.C. When you’re done reading him you feel like you’ve walked right by his side as he reported each person’s journey. His latest book, “The Good Soldiers,” which looks at American troops in Iraq, is no different. Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion columnist and blogger Jay Bookman leads a conversation with Finkel Sunday at 1:15 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Decatur Sanctuary Stage, 308 Clairemont Ave.

Patty Callahan Henry

Callahan Henry likes to say she decided to become a writer one day after playing a game of “what if” with her young daughter. Her daughter said she wanted to become a writer and Callahan Henry realized that’s the thing she herself most wanted to do. Now the Norcross writer is working on her eighth novel and has made it onto The New York Times best-seller list. Her books are part romance, part family drama, in which many of the characters wind up playing their own game of “what if” with their lives. In October, her seventh book, “The Perfect Love Song: A Holiday Story,” will be released. Callahan Henry speaks Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Eddie’s Attic Stage, 515-B N. McDonough St.

Patricia Smith

Like her former Boston Globe colleague Mike Barnicle, who has also risen above plagiarism charges, poet Patricia Smith has found her groove. Since she resigned from the Globe 12 years ago after admitting that she made up some characters in a handful of her columns, Smith has hunkered down and poured herself into her poetry. Her 2008 book, “Blood Dazzler,” a collection of poems about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, was a finalist for a National Book Award. (The book is now the basis for new production by the renowned dance troupe Urban Bush Women, which will be performing at the Rialto Center for the Arts in January.) Smith reads her poetry Sunday at noon on the Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage, 205 Sycamore St.

Rigoberto Gonzalez

Sometimes you’re curious about something but maybe feel a little too intimidated to approach it. That’s when you need someone to be a go-between, to make an introduction for you. Gonzalez is the editor of “Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing.” The volume contains poetry, essays and fiction from writers who write through their own cultural lens, but who create work that resonates with anyone who is curious about the world around them and the things we share in common. Gonzalez speaks Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Decatur Conference Center Stage, Ballroom A, 130 Clairemont Ave.

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Event preview

Highlights and general information (all locations are in Decatur)

Keynote address: Author Jonathan Franzen. 8 p.m. Friday, Presser Hall, Agnes Scott College, College Avenue and S. McDonough Street.

“Creating Mandalas”: Author/psychotherapist Susanne Fincher. 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Decatur Library Stage, 215 Sycamore St.

General information: Readings, signings, panel discussions, poetry, music and other performances, new and antiquarian book sales, children’s parades and other events. Events are free. Various locations in and around Decatur Square in downtown Decatur. 10 a.m.-6:15 p.m. Saturday, noon-5:45 p.m. Sunday. 678-534-8526; www.decaturbookfestival.com

AJC at the book fest

Several members of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff will be participating in the AJC Decatur Book Festival this weekend, including:

● Peach Buzz columnist Jennifer Brett interviews best-selling Atlanta novelist Emily Giffin. 11:15 a.m. Saturday, First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage, 308 Clairemont Ave.

● Food writer John Kessler interviews Southern food and spirits author Joseph Dabney. 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Decatur Conference Center Stage, Ballroom A, 130 Clairemont Ave. Later, join him for “Cooking with Kessler.” 3 p.m. Saturday, Cooks Warehouse Stage, 180 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.

● Editorial page editor Andre Jackson moderates “5 Years From Katrina: Revisiting the Gulf Coast,” a panel discussion featuring documentarian Kathleen Koch and artist/curator Dorothy Moye. 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Decatur Library Stage, 215 Sycamore St.

● Atlanta Bargain Hunter blogger and columnist Rana Cash interviews accountant/author Gail Margolies Reid. 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Decatur Conference Center Auditorium, 130 Clairemont Ave. Later, join Cash for a “Book Fest on a Budget” tour of area vendors. 4 p.m. Sunday, beginning at the AJC tent near the festival entrance on Ponce de Leon Avenue.