Decatur Book Festival
The AJC Decatur Book Festival presented by Emory University is moving to online programming for 2020.
For the past 14 years, the DBF has grown to become one of the most noteworthy book festivals in the country, drawing tens of thousands of book lovers to downtown Decatur, Georgia each Labor Day weekend. The DBF has put Atlanta on the literary map as a top destination for authors releasing new books. The Festival also has given the Decatur community an opportunity to host creative and influential writers, including Billy Collins, Jonathan Franzen, Natasha Trethewey, Tayari Jones, Roxane Gay, Charles Frazier and Jericho Brown.
This year, the global Coronavirus pandemic has prompted the Festival staff and board to depart from tradition.
"In the interest of public health, we have determined that holding a large-scale physical festival this Labor Day weekend is not feasible," said Joy Pope, the festival’s Interim Executive Director. "Instead, we are planning a virtual festival that will celebrate the DBF’s 15th anniversary in a way that is unique to our community. We want to bring content, candor and civic engagement into our lives in meaningful ways — something that the events of the past week have made more urgent than ever before. Beginning on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and continuing through September, the festival will present 15 virtual events that will represent the best of what the DBF does: ignite conversations inspired by diverse books and authors that engage our hearts and minds."
Free registration for events on three tracks (main, kids and culinary) is available here.
Pulitzer-related speakers include:
- Keynote: 2020 Poetry winner Jericho Brown (September 4, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM EDT)
- Writing in a World of Turmoil: Past juror Roxane Gay in conversation with 2020 Criticism finalist Soraya Nadia McDonald (September 24, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT)
- Endnote: 2007 Poetry winner Natasha Trethewey (October 4, 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM EDT)