The 2015 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (AJC DBF) will release Keynote event tickets for sale at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11. Novelist Erica Jong, an icon of the sexual revolution, will join in conversation with provocative feminist author and essayist Roxane Gay for the Keynote event on Friday, Sept. 4 at 8 p.m. at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts (1700 N. Decatur Road).
Tickets for the Keynote event are required, free and limited to two per person. Festival-goers can obtain tickets by visiting the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, by calling the Arts at Emory Box Office (404.727.5050) or by visiting Tickets.Arts.Emory.edu. Phone and online orders include a $4 processing fee. A limited number of tickets are also available at A Cappella Books, Charis Books & More, Eagle Eye Books, Tall Tales Books and Little Shop of Stories.
Tickets also will be available on Aug. 11 for the Kidnote address. The tickets are free but will be limited to four per person. This year’s featured Kidnote author will be Judy Schachner, creator of the beloved Skippyjon Jones picture books. Schachner launches a new character and picture book, Dewey Bob, at this year’s festival.
The Kidnote address is moving to Decatur High School’s Performing Arts Center (310 North McDonough Street) and will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4. Festival-goers can obtain tickets at Charis Books & More, Tall Tales Books, Eagle Eye Books and Little Shop of Stories.
In addition to the ticket announcement, AJC DBF has released the schedule for the event. Attendees can now view the robust programming schedule on the AJC DBF website: https://decaturbookfes.wpengine.com/sessions.
Following the Keynote and Kidnote events, some of the weekend’s highlights include:
Drew Daywalt, The Day the Crayons Came Home
- The author of the wildly popular and critically acclaimed children’s book The Day the Crayons Quit will lead the Saturday kick-off parade and launch his follow up, The Day the Crayons Came Home. The colorful parade will lead the way to the gymnasium at the Decatur Recreation Center, the new home for the Children’s Stage, which is sponsored by the Decatur Education Foundation.
- Decatur Education Foundation Children’s Stage (231 Sycamore Street), Saturday, 10 a.m.
Damon Tweedy, M.D., Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflection on Race and Medicine
- Explore one doctor’s passionate and profound memoir of his experience grappling with race, bias and the unique health problems of black Americans and the ways that those problems are rooted in complex social, cultural and economic factors. Tweedy is launching the book at the AJC DBF.
- Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage (205 Sycamore Street), Saturday, 11:15 a.m.
Jamie Brickhouse, Dangerous When Wet; George Hodgman, Bettyville
- In a panel discussion entitled “Life, Me and Mom,” the two bare-all authors discuss mother-son relationships and self-discovery. Brickhouse’s Dangerous When Wet is an astonishing memoir about a native Texan’s long struggle with alcohol, his complicated relationship with Mama Jean and his sexuality. Hodgman, in his hilarious, heart-breaking memoir, Bettyville, shares an unforgettable mother-son journey, capturing truths about family, identity and the current American landscape.
- Old Courthouse Stage (101 East Court Square), Saturday, 4:15 p.m.
Ari Berman, Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America
- A political correspondent for The Nation, Berman chronicles the transformative impact on American democracy of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which enfranchised millions. He investigates how the fight over the right to vote has continued in the decades since. Berman is launching the book on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
- Decatur Presbyterian Sanctuary Stage, Saturday, 5:30 p.m.
Libba Bray, Lair of Dreams
- The popular and bestselling author of many Young Adult novels, including Beauty Queens, the Gemma Doyle Trilogy and Printz Award-winning Going Bovine, returns to the AJC DBF with her new book, Lair of Dreams, the follow-up to The Diviners. Entertainment Weekly called Lair of Dreams an “ambitious series-starter, deftly evoking the exuberance of 1920s city life and the evil lurking beneath it.”
- Teen Stage (Marta Plaza), Sunday, noon
Amy Stewart, Girl Waits With Gun
- The bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist launches Girl Waits with Gun, featuring a strong female protagonist who happens to be one of the first female sheriffs in history&and whose story has been previously untold.
- Marriott Conference Center Ballroom A (130 Clairemont Avenue), Sunday, noon
Pat Conroy, Marly Rusoff, Jonathan Odell
- In a panel discussion entitled “All Stories Are True, Some Even Happened,” Conroy, the modern Southern literary master, and well-versed civil rights author Odell talk about fictionalizing your story. Legendary literary agent Rusoff will moderate.
- First Baptist Decatur Sanctuary Stage (308 Clairemont Avenue), Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
Afaa Michael Weaver, Evie Shockley, Denise Duhamel, Laura McCullough, Jericho Brown
- For the release of “Best American Poetry 2015,” five contributors to the volume by that name come together to read from their works. The Best American Poetry, annually published by Simon & Schuster, launches its 2015 edition at the AJC DBF.
- First Baptist Church Decatur Sanctuary Stage, Sunday, 3:45 p.m.
Josh Levs, All In: How Our Work-First Culture Fails Dads, Families, and Businesses—And How We Can Fix It Together
- The former “dad” columnist at CNN, Levs combines his personal experiences with investigative reporting and frank conversations with fathers about everything from work life to money to sex. All In busts popular myths, lays out facts, uncovers forces holding all of us back and shows how we can all join together to change them.
- Marriott Conference Center Ballroom B, Sunday, 5 p.m.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (AJC DBF) is the largest independent book festival in the country. Over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 4-6) tens of thousands from metro Atlanta and beyond will share the historic Decatur Square with world-class authors, illustrators, editors, publishers and booksellers for a weekend filled with literature, music, food and fun. For more information, visit decaturbookfestival.com,“like” Decatur Book Festival on Facebook or follow @DBookFestival on Twitter.