PEARL CLEAGE

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of our favorite writers, Atlanta's own Pearl Cleage, returns with an exciting new novel, Till You Hear from Me. It's a scathing look at the new "post-Obama" politics and black culture centered around an outspoken civil rights legend named the Rev. Horace Dunbar, whose unexpected and politically incorrect comments may have damaged his daughter's hopes for a place in the new administration. Cleage writes with authority and power and pulls no punches as she tells this story, filled with the heroes and villains of today's political scene. Her many bestselling books include Seen It All and Done the Rest, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day and Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do. She's won many awards, and her books have been included on the Center for the Book's list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read."

JACKSON PEARCE

Monday, July 26, 2010

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

Atlanta author Jackson Pearce is the highly praised author of several books for young readers including "As You Wish" and her latest, "Sisters Red." She joins us for the first time to discuss "Sisters Red," written for 8th graders and up, a fable-inspired thriller featuring some dangerous werewolves and a mystery to be solved. School Library Journal gives it a starred review and calls it "an adventure that grabs the reader and never lets go." The novel's heroines are a pair of sisters who must deal with werewolves called Ferris, who live among them in the form of good-looking young men who prey on pretty young girls. It's a modern-day re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood that will leave you breathless! This would be a great program for teenage readers, by the way.

DAVID BOTTOMS

Thursday, July 22, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

David Bottoms, the distinguished Poet Laureate of Georgia and one of America's finest poets, has a new book, and he'll be here to talk about it! The book is The Onion's Dark Core, and it's mostly a collection of essays composed by the poet. Poet Edward Hirsch calls it a book that is "personal, keenly thoughtful" and "that treats poetry with the seriousness it deserves, as 'the most natural vehicle of the spirit'." An appearance by Bottoms is indeed a special event, and we're honored to welcome him for this evening. Bottoms has written six other books of poetry and two novels, and he holds the Amos Distinguished Chair in English Letters at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

HELENA ANDREWS

Thursday, July 15, 2010

7:00 p.m., Wesley Chapel Library

Helena Andrews is young, smart, successful and black. an Ivy League graduate with great jobs who finds herself asking, "Can a strong, successful and single black woman ever find love?" The answer comes in her hilarious, tell-it-like-it-is new book, "Bitch is the New Black," whose title comes from a now-famous Saturday Night Live sketch and writer-comedienne Tina Fey. Already optioned as a feature film, the book deftly captures the author's lively spirit as she describes growing up with her pot-smoking mother, navigating a mostly white workplace and getting a date with one of President Obama's body guards, Reggie Love. You definitely won't want to miss this memorable, fun evening! Please note the program is being held at the Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown Library, 2861 Wesley Chapel Road.

JON CLINCH

Monday, July 12, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Jon Clinch, author of the prize-winning debut novel Finn, an original work drawn from Mark Twain that focused on Huckleberry Finn's brutal father, returns with another imaginative work, Kings of the Earth. It's a gripping and haunting story of life, death and family in rural America. Centered on three brothers, one of whom dies in his sleep, the surviving brothers are suspected of murder. Told in a chorus of distinctive voices that span a generation, the novel examines the bonds of family and blood, faith and suspicion that link not just the brothers but their community as well. Critics call it "blunt and brutal yet beautifully told, a classic tale of family kinship twisted askew." Clinch is a native of New York now living in Pennsylvania whose work has appeared in a number of literary magazines.

TOM HARBIN

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Dr. Tom Harbin has been practicing opthalmology with a specialty in glaucoma in Atlanta for more than 30 years and is a Clinical Professor Emeritus at Emory University. His new book, Waking Up Blind: Lawsuits Over Eye Surgery, is an eye-opening (pun intended) look at a highly respected surgeon's terrible mistake and how it was covered up by the leadership of a major academic medical center: Emory University. Through the use of court documents, transcripts of tape-recorded conversations, interviews and personal observations, Dr. Harbin examines the case in detail, uncovering all levels of wrongdoing and secrecy that will surprise you. We know you will not want to miss this startling program with its revelations about an Atlanta institution.

MELANIE SUMNER

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

7:00P.M., Toco Hill-Avis G. Williams Library

One of Georgia's finest writers makes her first appearance at the Center for the Book. Melanie Sumner -- whose acclaimed books include the novel The School of Beauty and Charm and a story collection Polite Society -- has written a wonderful new novel called The ghost of Milagro Creek. It's the powerful story of star-crossed lovers in the Native American lands of the Southwest, "an electrifying portrait of a troubled community" that is wrapped around murder and vulnerability. Sumner teaches creative writing at Kennesaw State University and was one of the honored writers at last year's Georgia Literary Festival in Rome. She is a Whiting Literary Award winner and has published stories and essays in many publications including The New Yorker and The New York Times.

KARIN SLAUGHTER

Thursday, July 1, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Atlanta's own Karin Slaughter The New York Times' and #1 international bestselling author of ten thrillers, will be here talking about her latest spellbinding book, Broken. It's not just the page-turning plotting and unexpected twists that make Karin's books so popular, but also the vivid portraits of real lives in stress, people shadowed by loss and heartbreak that keep readers by the tens of thousands coming back for more. In Broken, a Grant County novel, Special Agent Will Trent arrives to look into a prisoner's death and encounters a police department beset with murder. Karin's bestselling books, which have sold millions of copies here and abroad, include Blindsighted, A Faint Cold Fear and Beyond Reach, which was on an earlier list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read."

JOSHILYN JACKSON

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

7:00 P.M., Tucker-Reid H. Cofer Library

This is a good year for Joshilyn Jackson. She was a finalist for the Townsend Award for Fiction, and her wonderful novel The Girl Who Stopped Swimming was just announced as one of the Center for the Book's 2010 "25 Books All Georgians Should Read." Here's your opportunity to meet and hear this delightful author talk about her brand new novel, Backseat Saints. It's a can't-put-it-down story about love, survival and shedding the past that features a memorable new voice: the tough, passionate and funny Rose Mae Lolly. She's arguably the best character Jackson's has ever come up and is perfect for a book that is both high spirited and darker than her previous novels Gods in Alabama and Between Georgia. This new novel is already getting rave reviews, so don't miss Joshilyn's appearance at the Tucker Library!

TONY BARNHART

Monday, June 28, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Football fans, it's never too early to talk about SEC football, is it? We've got a special evening just for you with Atlanta's own Tony Barnhart, the nation's top expert on college football. He'll be with us to give you the insider's view of Mark Richt's UGA Dawgs and the rest of the SEC and ACC teams as we look to the 2010 season. Tony is the AJC's knowledgeable and outspoken writer who is also the author of a new book, From Herschel to a Hob-nailed Boot: The Life and Times of Larry Munson, written with the long-time voice of the Bulldogs. Barnhart's other books include Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion, and Glory of the Great Southern Game and What It Means To Be a Bulldog: Vince Dooley, Mark Richt, and Georgia's Greatest Players.

JANE GREEN

Friday, June 25, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Jane Green, the bestselling author of 11 popular novels makes her first visit to the Center for the Book with a compelling new novel just right for summer reading, Promises to Keep. It's the story of one remarkable summer in Maine when the lives of several families intersect, and what happens when you have to be your parent's child long after you've grown up. The novel focuses on enduring love, building relationships and making touch decisions, the challenges we all have to face. Green has won acclaim for her novels which include such favorites as The Beach House, Babyville, Dune Road and Second Chance

JANE MENDELSOHN

Monday, June 21, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Jane Mendelsohn, author of The New York Times' bestselling novel I Was Amelia Earhart, visits us with a memorable, original new book, American Music. It's a luminous love story centering on Milo, a severely wounded Iraq war veteran, and Honor, a former dancer who is now his physical therapist. Whenever she touches his damaged back, mysterious images from the past appear to both Milo and Honor, ultimately revealing the source of their growing love. Critics say it's a "beautiful mystery and a meditation on love, its power and its limitations." It is a book of almost hypnotic power by one of America's finest novelists, and we know you'll find it an unforgettable evening.

BRUCE WATSON

Thursday, June 17, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

In the summer of 1964, hundreds of college students descended on Mississippi to register black voters, teach in Freedom Schools and live in sharecropper's shacks. Within days, three volunteers had been murdered, black churches had been burned and a nation's anger had been aroused. This remarkable chapter in American history is the subject of Bruce Watson's riveting new historical narrative, Freedom Summer: The Savage Summer That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy. Prize-winning journalist and author Watson (Sacco and Vanzetti) uses in-depth interviews and thorough research to brilliantly capture that period when Jim Crow laws began to succumb to the continuing struggle for racial justice. It happened 46 years ago; in Watson's book, it is vividly brought back to memory.

DAVID ZIMMERMAN

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Georgia native David Zimmerman has a debut novel being called "one of the most exciting publishing events of the year." It's already claimed great reviews ("Remarkable ... a talent to watch," writes Publishers Weekly) and an early readership who call it a "powerful, realistic thriller." It's called The Sandbox, and it's set in the Iraqi desert where Army Pvt. Toby Durant is stationed. He's worried about his pregnant fiancee back home and is facing some serious questions about a bombing that has killed two of his military colleagues. Zimmerman builds a suspenseful, page-turning narrative as Toby struggles to survive amid deadly insurgents and a mission gone awry; it's a classic story of a decent man trying to get by under impossible circumstances and a blistering look at Army life in Iraq. Zimmerman currently teaches at Iowa State University.

HOLLY LECRAW & JEFFREY STEPAKOFF

Monday, June 14, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We're very happy to welcome two terrific new Georgia authors with their acclaimed debut novels. Holly LeCraw's novel The Swimming Pool is a powerful, painful family drama about a woman experiencing guilt and loss in the aftermath of an affair that is already drawing rave reviews. Publishers Weekly says "it's a story of deep and searing love between siblings and lovers, but most powerfully between parents and their children." Jeffrey Stepakoff's novel Fireworks Over Toccoa, a sweet, nostalgic tale set at the end of World War II in a vividly described Northeast Georgia. The author is a former television writer who now mskes his home in metro Atlanta. Please join us to meet and hear from these two wonderful new writers.

RAY CHARLES ROBINSON, JR.

Friday, June 11, 2010

7:00 P.M., Municipal Auditorium, 200 N. Jackson St., Albany, GA

The son of the late, legendary Georgia-born singer Ray Charles has written a marvelous and affectionate memoir of his famous father titled, You Don't Know Me: Reflections of My Father, Ray Charles. We invite you to join us for a special presentation by the author on how he came to terms with his father's overwhelming legacy. It's a wonderful tribute to the great Ray Charles and to the courage of his son. This appearance will be in his father's hometown of Albany in Southwest Georgia. This event is part of our "We the People" project funded with the assistance of the Georgia Humanities Council.

RAY CHARLES ROBINSON, JR.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

7:00 P.M., Central Library-Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System

The son of the late, legendary Georgia-born singer Ray Charles has written a marvelous, affectionate memoir of his father titled, You Don't Know Me: Reflections of My Father, Ray Charles. We invite you to join us for a special presentation by the author on how he came to terms with his father's overwhelming legacy. It's a wonderful tribute to the great Ray Charles and to the courage of his son. His appearance in Atlanta is part of our "We the People" project funded with assistance from the Georgia Humanities Council, and will be followed by an event in Albany, where Ray Charles was born in 1930.

CAROLYN JESSOP

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Two years ago we presented the young author of the best-selling true story Escape, who vividly recounted her dangerous, courageous and successful escape with her eight children from a forced polygamous Mormon marriage. Now Carolyn Jessop returns with a new book written with Laura Palmer, Triumph: Life After the Cult: A Survivor''s Lesson. In this book, she talks about her life in recent years and what she has learned since re-joining a non-fundamentalist society. Jessop's voice is a distinctive one as she relates her growth as a woman re-gaining her self-confidence in spite of the heart-wrenching events that have befallen her.

LEE HARRIS

Monday, June 7, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Political analyst Lee Harris believes today's so-called populist revolt, symbolized for many by the Tea Party movement, is just the latest battle in an on-going cultural war. And in his new book, The Next American Civil War: The Populist Revolt Against the Liberal Elite, the Georgia author examines what he finds to be a widespread public response to an "intellectual elite" who are attempting to control the destinies of everyone. Rather than discourage debate about the issue, Harris argues that discussion is good and necessary and will help to define the choices Americans make for their future. Thomas lives in Stone Mountain and is also the author of The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West, which The New York Times says is an "engaging" book that "raises serious questions."

CRAIG JOHNSON

Thursday, June 3, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Craig Johnson, the author of the award-winning mystery series featuring Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire, visits us with a terrific new book, Junkyard Dogs (and no, it's not about UGA). This sixth in the popular series is filled with Johnson's signature blend of wisecracks, Western justice and page-turning plot twists. It all begins when a severed thumb is discovered in a small-town junkyard, placing the sheriff and his companions deep in the darker aspects of human nature. It's a story of love, death, laughs and derelict automobiles that we know you'll like a lot! If you're a mystery fan, please mark the date on your calendar.

THOMAS CHATTERTON WILLIAMS

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Here's an absolutely fascinating new book all about how hip-hop culture drew the author in, and how his father drew him out: with lots of love, perseverance and about 15,000 books! The book is titled Losing My Cool, and the author is a writer and former journalist for The Washington Post. As a teenager, Williams wore huge sunglasses, a hefty gold medallion and managed to dumb-down and thug-up his speech. His pursuits, he says, "were money, ho's and clothes." His father -- who grew up in the segregated South -- saw it differently, and he ultimately prevailed. How he accomplished thatt and the pivotal role played by books in the author's life will keep you mesmerized when you hear Williams talk about his experiences. Don't miss this powerful program!

MARY RICHARDSON

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author Mary Richardson and a group of very skilled photographers have put together a most remarkable look at the lives of long-haul truckers. The book, titled simply Truckers, alternates between lyrical vignettes and stunning photos, all overseen by Richardson, who was inspired by her experiences as the editor of a national trucker magazine. This attractive book shows the intimate lives of the men and women who ride the highways night and day year-round, and it offer some surprising insights that moves them well beyond the range of stereotyped characters. Her presentation will be amply illustrated with photographs taken from the book. Presented as part of the celebration of the Decatur Arts Festival.

JOE DABNEY

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Fond of shrimp and grits? Like your Beaufort Stew? Eager to try some collards au gratin? Head on down to the library for this exciting, fun evening all about the cooking and stories of coastal Georgia and South Carolina kitchens. We'll be hosting an appearance by the prize-winning writer Joe Dabney, author of the wonderful new book, The Food, Folklore, and Art of Lowcountry Cooking. Dabney treats readers to a tour of Charleston, Beaufort and Savannah to examine food experiences, recipes and the stories of the people who prepare these dishes. The terrific cookbook author Nathalie Dupree says Dabney's book "goes to the heart of Lowcountry culture and cuisine," and the Lee Brothers call it simply "mouthwatering." The book is filled with colorful photographs, authentic voices and yummy recipes. Dabney won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year Award for his earlier book, Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, and Scuppernong Wine: the Folklore and Art of Appalachian Cooking. This event is part of the Decatur Arts Festival observance.

JOHN SANDFORD

Monday, May 24, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We welcome best-selling author John Sandford for his first appearance at the Georgia Center for the Book. Sandford's hugely popular "Prey" series has sold millions of copies and made him one of America's most highly read authors. He'll be visiting us to talk about Storm Prey, the 20th book in this prize-winning series. Sandford is really John Camp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former newspaper journalist whose many successful books include Phantom Prey and Dark of the Moon. Sandford is also the author of two nonfiction books on plastic surgery and art and is the financial backer for a major archaeological project now underway in the Jordan Valley of Israel. His appearance is part of the Decatur Arts Festival week celebration. Please note the library is closed on this day, so access to this event will be only through the lower level door at the rear of the library. The door will open at 6:30 p.m.

ROBIN OLIVEIRA

Friday, May 21, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

If you found yourself caught up in the atmosphere and power of Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain and Robert Hicks' The Widow of the South, we think you'll want to hear Robin Oliveira talk about her new Civil War-era novel, My Name is Mary Sutter. It's about a headstrong young woman on the eve of the bloody clash who has become a midwife and is now seeking to enter medical school. Rejected because of her sex, she finds a surgeon and mentor who will become even more in Mary's life, leaving her caught between the obligations to her family and the overwhelming needs of her soldier-patients. It's an exceptionally moving story of love and war and a young woman's determination and vulnerability at a time of great stress.

STEPHANIE MCCURRY

Thursday, May 20, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

If you have an interest in the Civil War, you will want to mark this event on your calendar. University of Pennsylvania historian Stephanie McCurry visits us to present an important new book that critics say "permanently rewrites the history of the Southern confederacy." Her book, published by Harvard University Press, is Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, which gives us a radical new interpretation, arguing that the Confederacy -- a republic that systematically excluded women and slaves from citizenship -- was brought down by the very people it sought to disenfranchise. Author Tony Horowitz says her book "strips the Confederacy of myth and romance to reveal its doomed essence." We invite you to come learn more about this challenging thesis about a war that remains central to Georgia's history. The author's books include Masters of Small Worlds: Yeomen Households, Gender Relations, and the Political Culture of the Antebellum South Carolina Low Country.

KEITH GILYARD

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We welcome one of America's most highly respected scholars of African American writers for the latest in our popular series, "University in the Library." Dr. Keith Gilyard from Penn State University joins us to discuss the life and work of an important and often neglected Georgia figure, John Oliver Killens. Gilyard's new book, John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism, is the first major biography of Killens, a native of Macon and an influential novelist, essayist, screenwriter, teacher and union activist. Killens was the founding chair of the noted Harlem Arts Movement and was a writer for over four decades (his best known book is the novel Youngblood). Gilyard's biography examines not only Killens' life but his interaction with many famous historical figures including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Dubois and Malcolm X.

DAVID C. TUCKER

Monday, May 17, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The expert on the early days of television joins us to talk about his delightful new book, Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen. These shows were originally broadcast between 1952 and 1969 and include the likes of "The Governor and J.J.," "Angel" and "It's a Great Life." The stories of the talented people who made and appeared on those shows would have been lost forever without David Tucker's research, which has also located some rare publicity photos for the book. Tucker is the Collection Management Coordinator for the DeKalb County Public Library and the author of several popular books about television including The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s' Sitcoms and Shirley booth: A Biography and Career Record.

LARRY TYE

Friday, May 14, 2010

7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

Join us for a discussion of one of baseball's true iconic figures: pitcher Satchel Paige. Boston Globe sportswriter Larry Tye is the author of a definitive new book about the great black hurler titled Satchel: the Life and Times of an American Legend. Tye interviewed more than 200 players in the Negro Leagues and Major Leagues who knew Satchel for this engrossing, revealing, and sometimes surprising biography. Tye makes a strong case that Satchel, whose career began in Jim Crow Alabama, was among the game's top pitchers (and who was inducted belatedly into the Hall of fame in 1971). With impeccable scholarship and a journalist's flair for writing, this book will be a treat for all fans of baseball and a real "Paige turner." .

RONALD C. WHITE

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

In his prize-winning biography of the nation's 16th President, A. Lincoln, noted historian Ronald White stresses how Lincoln's ties to the common man and his vast experience as politician and legislator helped him survive the nation's greatest crisis, the Civil War. White paints a vivid, strong portrait of Lincoln that critics call "the finest one-volume account of the life of Abraham Lincoln we have." And his book offers us a reminder of why Lincoln remains among the pantheon of America's greatest Presidents. White's books include Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural and The Eloquent President.

MELISSA ANDERSON

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

1:00 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

Fans of the hugely popular and long-running television series "Little House on the Prairie" will remember Melissa Anderson as the older daughter Mary. She grew up in front of millions of viewers from the show's start in 1974 until she left the series in 1981, and she was the only actor on the show to be nominated for an Emmy. In her delightful new book, The Way I See It: A Look Back At My Life on Little House, she shares stories about her co-stars and anecdotes about the series. Her book is a wonderful portrait if a child star who grew up to be a successful adult actress and a successful adult. Don't miss her special lunchtime appearance!

ANDREW YOUNG

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

7:00 P.M., First Baptist Church, Decatur

We are privileged to present the former United Nations Ambassador, Congressman, Mayor of Atlanta and Civil Rights icon Andrew Young with a very special presentation about his new book, Walk in My shoes. The book, to be published officially on this date, is subtitled, "Conversations Between a Civil Rights Legend and His Godson on the Journey Ahead." It has been written with Young's godson Kabir Sehgal and memorably explores the opportunities and challenges we all face in an effort to make the world a better place. Tom Brokaw calls the book "a great gift to America's children," and Maya Angelou calls it a "fiercely inspiring cross-generational memoir." We urge you to bring your family to this inspirational program and meet the author, the man who marched with Dr. King, and the author of several notable books including A Way Out of No Way and An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America. Doors at the church will open at 6 p.m. Parking is available in the church lots.

MELVIN KONNER

Monday, May 10, 2010

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

Emory University anthropology professor and acclaimed author Konner will talk about his much-anticipated new book from Harvard University Press, The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind. Critics say it's an "intellectual tour de force: a comprehensive Darwinian interpretation of human development, the compelling and complex story of how cross-cultural and universal characteristics of our growth from infancy to adolescence became rooted in genetically inherited characteristics of the human brain. In other words, it's about why we need to know our biological past to better understand our psychological present.

PAUL GUEST

Thursday, May 6, 2010

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

Over the years, Paul Guest has proved to be one of the most popular poets who has visited us. Confined to a wheelchair and unable to move his arms or legs since he broke his neck at the age of 12, Paul has written several outstanding collections of poetry (My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge, Notes for My Body Double), and he comes to us with an eagerly anticipated, powerful memoir, One More Theory About Happiness. It is not a book of self pity, rather an unvarnished, often funny and always breathtakingly honest story of his growth from a boy into a man under circumstances almost unthinkable for most of us. This will be a most memorable evening, and we hope you'll join us to meet and hear from Paul.

KIM SEVERSON

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

Enjoy food? Enjoy cooking? We know you won't want to miss Kim Severson, the acclaimed food writer for The New York Times since 2004 and winner of four James Beard Foundation Awards. She has a wonderful new book, something that may surprise you a bit. It's called Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life. It's a revelatory memoir of how encounters with eight female cooks helped her re-learn some important lessons about her life, from why it is never too late to start over to the importance of accepting what comes your way. This is a rich, funny, multilayered memoir and inspirational story that will stay with you a long time, a testament to the wisdom to be found in the kitchen.

JEAN KWOK

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

7:15, Decatur Library Auditorium

The publication of Kwok's debut novel, Girl in Translation, is an important literary event with a remarkable story about it. The author is a young Chinese-American who is telling the powerfully affecting story of a girl who goes from a sweatshop to the Ivy League. Mirroring this novel's tale is the real story of the author, who was born in Hong Kong, emigrated to Brooklyn with her family, worked in a Chinatown factory and managed to put herself through Harvard. She has been a teacher and translator in The Netherlands, a reader for the blind, a housekeeper, a ballroom dancer and a computer graphics specialist. We know you'll find this program appealing and memorable.

RIVER OF WORDS

Sunday, May 2, 2010

3:00 p.m., Chattahoochee Nature Center

Please join us for the annual awards ceremony for our popular "River of Words" program. We'll have the state (and national) winners from Georgia showing off their prize-winning poery and visual arts. The lovely Chattahoochee Nature Center grounds are open for exploration and the awards will begin at 3:30 p.m. followed by a reception. It's free, of course, and it's a wonderful way to celebrate some very talented students. The "River of Words" program is co-sponsored with Project WET of the Department of Natural Resources.

GEORGIA AUTHORS NIGHT

Thursday, April 29, 2010

7:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We invite you to this very special event, a major activity on our busy calendar. We'll be publicly announcing our new list of 25 Books All Georgians Should Read, and we'll have as many as 18 of the authors on the list on hand to chat with you and sign their books. It' should be quite an amazing evening with 18 of Georgia's finest authors! We'd love to tell you who'll be here, but the list is a secret until then, so please plan to join us to find out who made the 2010 edition and to congratulate the authors who'll be here to meet you. Note this program begins at 7 p.m., NOT 7:15.

MARYN MCKENNA

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The prize-winning former science writer for the AJC who won awards for her coverage of the CDC returns with a frightening but true new book, Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA. MRSA is a terrifying pathogen that is evolving faster than the medical community can develop antibiotics to stop it, and McKenna reports it is now beginning to threaten not just hospitals and clinics but individuals young and old, healthy and sick. McKenna is the author of Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, and a former Fellow at the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School.

LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE AWARD CEREMONY

Saturday, April 24, 2010

2:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Please join us as we celebrate the creativity and talent of several dozen students from across the state of Georgia at our annual Letters About Literature awards ceremony. These students have written letters to literary figures whose works have dramatically influenced the lives of the students. The winners have been chosen from among thousands of entrants in the state and national competitions. We invite you to come meet these gifted young people, hear their winning letters and a special talk by the acclaimed author Terra McVoy, author of the novel Pure and the soon-to-be-published novel After the Kiss, and enjoy a reception afterward. It's one of our favorite programs of the each year!

TOWNSEND PRIZE FOR FICTION

Thursday, April 22, 2010

6-9 P.M., Margaret Mitchell House and Museum

The Townsend Prize, given biennially for the best work of fiction written by a Georgia author over the last two years, will be presented this evening at a free public ceremony. We can't tell you the winner, but the shortlist of finalists includes James Braziel, Philip DePoy, Tom Edwards, Amanda Gable, Joshilyn Jackson, Sang Pak, Kathryn Stockett, Bailey White, Susan Rebecca White and Philip Lee Williams. The announcement will be made at a reception featuring remarks by the distinguished author/poet Fred Chappell, former poet laureate of North Carolina. The Townsend is co-sponsored by the Writers Institute at Georgia Perimeter College, The Atlanta Writers Club, the Margaret Mitchell House and the Georgia Center for the Book.

ACE ATKINS

Friday, April 16, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The bestselling Mississippi novelist makes his debut appearance at the Georgia Center for the Book to talk about his lively new novel, Infamous. Set in 1933, it focuses on Depression-era gangsters including one George Kelly, known as "Machine Gun Kelly" and his wife, who is even more murder-minded than her hubby. It's definitely a page-turner from the author of such popular mysteries-thrillers as White Shadow, Dirty South and Wicked City. Atkins is a former prize-winning newspaper crime reporter and a star on the Auburn football team, who helped lead the Tigers to an undefeated season in 1993. (He even got his picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated!) This promises to be an entertaining evening, and we hope you'll be with us.

A Reminder: Because the library closes at 6 p.m. on Friday, only the rear parking level door to the auditorium will be open this evening.

SUSAN REBECCA WHITE

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Center-Day Chapel

The Atlanta author of the popular novel Bound South now has her second novel ready: A Soft Place to Land, the story about a special relationship between two sisters. Spanning nearly two decades, their story moves from Atlanta to the West Coast as they struggle with issues of jealousy, anger and ultimately, love. The author will be appearing with two other writers who have strongly endorsed her new novel, Kathryn Stockett (author of The Help), and Todd Johnson (author of The Sweet By and By).

JOHN BURRISON

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The expert on Georgia folk pottery, Burrison joins us to talk about his inviting new book, From Mug to Jug: the Folk Potters and Pottery of Northeast Georgia. This title "celebrates the living traditions of the renowned northeast Georgia folk pottery clans, undertaking a sensitivity, a finesse, and a flair for description and analysis that entitle the book to a place among the classics of this type." This book is both a companion and sequel to Brothers in Clay, and focuses on an area that has maintained a continuous tradition of pottery-making since the early 19th century. It includes more than 100 color photographs of pots, potters, and their work spaces, Burrison also captures the living tradition of one of the last areas of the United States where Euro-American folk pottery is still being made. Burrison will present a slide presentation to accompany his talk.

PATRICIA SPRINKLE

Monday, April 12, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of Atlanta's favorite mystery writers, shows us a different side of her artistry with her eagerly anticipated new novel, Hold Up the Sky. It's a moving story of four women facing difficult challenges who come together on a drought-stricken Georgia farm to find strength and insights with each other. Sprinkle's delightful, popular mysteries include Death of a Dunwoody Matron, A Mystery Bred in Buckhead, Death on the Family Tree and Who Let the Killer in the House?

Because there is an event at the adjacent Decatur Recreation Center at 7.p.m., parking spaces in the library lot will be difficult to find this evening. We urge you to arrive by 6:30 if possible or plan to park at other locations around Decatur in order to hear and enjoy Pat Sprinkle.

ANNE LAMOTT

Friday, April 9, 2010

7:00 P.M., First Baptist Church Decatur

the renowned author of many bestselling books including Traveling Mercies and Grace: Thoughts on Faith, visits us with a tough and touching new novel, Imperfect Birds. "Heartbreaking and delightful, moving and hopeful, the novel reminds us how our children are connected to and independent of us, and that no matter how difficult our struggle is with them, love underlies it all and saves us. This novel captures the deepest, purest, most terrifying experience of parents fearing for their children. With great insight and humor, Anne Lamott shows us what it means these dangerous days to be a parent, what it means to be a child, and what it means to be a family."

We expect a capacity crowd for this event, so please plan to arrive early to secure the best seating. Doors open at 6 P.M. No tickets or reservations required.
First Baptist Church Decatur is located at 308 Clairemont Avenue
Decatur, Georgia 30030

LISA TRACY

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Why do Americans have so much "stuff," and why we we hang on to it forever and ever? Author Lisa Tracy reveals the delightful answers in her fascinating and surprisingly tender new book, Objects of Our Affection: Uncovering My Family's Past, One Chair, Pistol, and Pickle Fork at a Time. It's all about those things we keep, the heirlooms, and how we form stories about our things and what that means for generations of our family yet to come. You'll thoroughly enjoy this presentation about a subject close to all of us. This is the fifth book for Tracy, a former prize-winning journalist.

EVELYN MONAHAN & ROSEMARY NEIDEL-GREENLEE

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The two Georgia writers have combined to tell the remarkable, never-before-told story of the U.S. women's military corps in their fascinating new book, A Few Good Women: America's Military Women from World War I to the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Utilizing interviews and a variety of written sources, they trace the history of women in the military in a first-hand narrative as illuminating as it is inspiring. Monahan served in the Women's Army Corps and has worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Neidel-Greenlee was a member of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps and worked at the U.S. Veterans Medical Center in Atlanta. They previously authored And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II , winner of the Georgia Writers 40th Annual Georgia Author of the Year Award.

POETRY ATLANTA PRESENTS...

Thursday, April 1, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

It's no April Fool's joke: we're honored to host another wonderful, provocative evening of poetry featuring writers from the metro Atlanta area. It's our monthly program presented by our partners at Poetry Atlanta, and this month we'll feature a couple of terrific young poets: January Gill O'Neil, a Cave Canem Fellow, senior writer/editor at Babson College and author of the collection Underlife; and James May, the editor-in-chief of "New South" whose work has appeared in The New Republic and The New Ohio Review. He's also soon to be married to noted Atlanta poet Chelsea Rathburn.

DEBORAH BLUM

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer discusses her new book, a "wonderfully compelling hybrid of history and science," The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Blum's true story, which reads like a first-rate novelist's tale, features a memorable cast of movie stars, gangsters, aristocrats, relentless medical examiners and even homicidal grandmothers. Her chronicle of Jazz Age chemical crimes will leave you breathless and transform the way you think about the power of science. Blum is the author of the bestselling book Ghost Hunters and is professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin. Deborah will be introduced by Mary Kay Andrews.

DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The award-winning author of five novels, will discuss his latest, Acacia: Other Lands, the second book in the popular Acacia Trilogy. He is a winner of the Zora Neale Hurston /Richard Wright Fiction Award for his stories, and he received the prestigious John C. Campell Book Award in 2009. His novels include Gabriel's Story, about a runaway slave and the Scottish immigrant hired to track him, and Acacia, set in an alternative world and a book hailed by sci-fi and fantasy enthusiasts.
This program is jointly sponsored by Kennesaw State University.

LYNN CULLEN

Monday, March 29, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Atlanta-based author of many popular books for young readers, comes to us with her first adult novel, a riveting tale set in the Golden Age of Spain, The Creation of Eve. It's based on the true but little-known story of the first female painter of the Renaissance who encounters formidable challenges when she comes to Rome to study in the great Michelangelo's studio. It combines art, drama and history centered around the question: can you really know anyone's heart? Cullen's previous books include Godiva, I Am Rembrandt's Daughter, Moi and Marie Antoinette and the Backyard Ghost.

ANNE PERRY

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We welcome "the queen of Victorian mysteries," one of the world's most popular and prolific writers of mystery and suspense, Anne Perry, for a delightful evening discussing her forthcoming mystery, The Sheen on the Silk. It's her first major non-series book, a memorably epic historical novel set in 13th century Constantinople where a women struggles to uncover the truth about an accused murderer. Anne Perry is the author of dozens of books, bestsellers everywhere, including Death by Horoscope, Sherman's Creek, A Breach of Promise, Paragon Walk and Brunswick Square.

SARAH ADDISON ALLEN

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The prize-winning author of Garden Spells and The The Sugar Queen, returns with a wonderful, enchanting new novel, The Girl Who Chased the Moon. The bestselling author, who makes her home in Asheville, NC, has created an embracing story "set in a quirky small Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon." It's a charming tale all about the unexpected in a town peopled by some of most appealing misfits you'll ever meet. We think it just may be this delightful author's best book yet!

PETER HEDGES

Monday, March 22, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We invite you to a special evening with Peter Hedges, the Academy Award-nominated author/director of the films What Eating Gilbert Grape?, Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life and About a Boy. He has written a wonderful new novel, The Heights, the story of a private school history teacher and his relationships, a book about love and challenge, at once light of touch and yet packed with emotion and depth of character. Hedges wrote both the novel and the screenplay for What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

KEVIN YOUNG & NATASHA TRETHEWEY

Thursday, March 18, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Young,one of America's most acclaimed poets and the Atticus Haygood Professor at Emory University, will discuss his eagerly anticipated new volume of poetry, The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing. Young, a popular reader, is the author of several notable books of poetry including For the Confederate Dead, Jelly Roll, To Repel Ghosts, Dear Darkness and Black Maria. He'll be signing copies of his new book as well as his earlier releases. Joining Kevin will be Natasha Trethewey. She is the Pulitzer Prize winning Poet for Native Guard. Her honors include the Bunting Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. She is Professor of English at Emory University where she holds the Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry.

CAROL GOODMAN

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The best-selling author of The Ninth Villa, The Ghost Orchid and The Sonnet Lover, visits us with a thrilling new novel, Arcadia Falls .Set in a small town in New York, Meg moves herself and her teenage daughter into a small cottage, hoping to reconnect and start new lives. During Arcadia’s First Night bonfire, one of Meg’s folklore students, Isabel Cheney, plunges to her death in a campus gorge. Sheriff Callum Reade finds Isabel’s death suspicious, but then, he is a man with secrets and a dark past himself.
Meg is unnerved by Reade’s interest in the girl’s death, and as long-buried secrets emerge, she must face down her own demons and the danger threatening to envelop Sally. As the past clings tight to the present, the shadows, as if in a terrifying fairy tale, grow longer and deadlier.Her mystery/suspense novels have made her among the most popular writers in America, and we welcome her for her first visit to the Georgia Center for the Book.

THOMAS CAHILL

Monday, March 15, 2010

7:00 P.M., First Baptist Church Decatur

The New York Times' bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization and Mysteries of the Middle Ages, discusses his powerful new book, A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green. It's a deeply moving and true narrative about a man transformed as he faced an unjust execution. Archbishop Desmond Tutu says of the book, “Dominique Green was a wonderful man whose life demonstrated the power of God to heal and transfigure even the most unlikely people and places. Who could have expected that Texas Death Row would be made into an avenue of divine grace?—which is exactly what happened through Dominique’s instrumentation. Though this is a book that ends in death, it does not end in despair. Read it and discover how even the obscenity of capital punishment can be transformed into an occasion of light and peace.” Parking is available at the Church. First Baptist Church Decatur is located at 308 Clairemont Avenue, Decatur, Georgia 30030

KAREN SPEARS ZACHARIAS

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Zacharias, who grew up in Georgia, visits us with an unforgettable new book of sad, funny, poignant stories about some unforgettable characters, Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide? 'Cause I Need More Room for my Plasma TV. Zacharias' book is "a spirit-infused meditation on gratuitous wealth and barely gettin' by," and Jeff Foxworthy says the author is a writer "not afraid to talk with real people and speak the truth." Her books include After the Flag Has Been Folded, a heartwarming look back at her experiences growing up after the death of her father in Vietnam, and Where's Your Jesus Now? Examining How Fear Erodes Our Faith.

LEE SMITH

Monday, March 8, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of America's most popular authors, makes a special encore visit to the Georgia Center for the Book with a fabulous new collection of short stories -- her first collection in 13 years -- Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger. Lee Smith is one of the American masters of short fiction, and this new book will delight and dazzle her many fans. Her characters range from an 8-year-old boy obsessed with vocabulary words to a young bride who has married "way up" to the title character, an older woman making her way through widowhood her own way. Lee Smith is the author of 15 books including Fair and Tender Ladies, Oral History, Black Mountain Breakdown and The Last Girls.

DON TEAGUE & RAFRAF BARRAK

Thursday, March 4, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

You won't want to miss this unique program with Emmy Award-winning CBS News Correspondent Don Teague and his Iraqi-born translator Rafraf Barrak discussing their book, Saved by Her Enemy: An Iraqi Woman's Journey from the Heart of War to the Heartland of America. The two met early in the Iraq War and were nearly killed by a terrorist bomb. their friendship transcended cultural and religious differences but ultimately forced her to leave her family and seek protection in America. Her story about finding her place in American society is mesmerizing. We'll have books for sale and signing by both authors.

ATLANTA'S BIG READ FEATURING DR. DEBORAH PLANT

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We invite you to join us for the important concluding event in Atlanta's 2009 "Big Read" program sponsored by the Atlanta History Center and its Margaret Mitchell House. This evening will feature the keynote address by acclaimed literary historian Deborah Plant, the author of Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit. She'll be discussing Hurston's best-known work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was the book featured in Atlanta's "Big Read" last year.

POETRY ATLANTA PRESENTS...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We once again join our good friends at Poetry Atlanta for a special Black History Month program featuring the work of several noted poets from throughout metro Atlanta. Award-winning poet and poetry slam champion Theresa Davis hosts this program, which features some of Atlanta's up-and-coming spoken word poets and local celebrities. Among them will be Darnell Fine and the members of the Java Monkey and Art Smok Slam Teams. It will be a lively evening!

GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF HISTORIANS

Thursday, February 18, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We welcome the GAH holding their 2010 annual meeting in Decatur. As part of their sessions, we are happy to host a free public program on two new books, Georgia Women: Their Lives and Their Times,Vols.1 & 2 published by UGA Press and featuring the editors Ann Short Chirhart, and Betty Wood, editors of Vol.1 and Kathleen Clark from the University of Georgia, editor of Vol. 2. Michele Gillespie from Wake Forest University will discuss Decatur's Mary Gay, and Steve Goodson from the University of West Georgia will talk about the legendary blues singer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. We'll have books for sale and signing.

THOMAS RICKS

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post and author of the bestselling account of the Iraq war through 2005, Fiasco, discusses his timely new book, The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008. General Petraeus led what became known as "the surge," a dramatic change of strategy, in spite of opposition within and without the military establishment and the Bush administration. Ricks' conclusion is that the military still has an important role to play in Iraq for some years to come. Join us for this provocative new book discussion.

ALEX BERENSON

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Berenson joins us with a cutting-edge novel that brings a riveting new suspense tale featuring his maverick CIA agent John Wells. The novel is The Midnight House, a story of "heart-stopping adventure" as Wells investigates who is killing the members of a secret overseas interrogation team. A reporter for The New York Times who has covered the war in Iraq and the flooding in New Orleans, Berenson won a coveted 2007 Edgar Award for his first novel, The Faithful Spy, and also the author of another bestselling spy story, The Ghost War.

HANNAH & KEVIN SALWEN

Monday, February 8, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The new book by the Salwens is a triumph of generosity and justice that will have a special meaning for Atlantans especially. Kevin is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal now on the board of Habitat for Humanity in Atlanta. Inspired by his daughter Hannah, his family decided to downsize their large home in the city and donate half of the profits to a worthy charity, their effort to do something positive about the widening gap between haves and have-nots. Their decision galvanized thousands of people, and you'll read about the amazing results in their new book, The Power of Half: One family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start giving Back.

JIM WALLIS

Friday, February 5, 2010

7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum

The widely respected NPR commentator and founder and editor of Sojourner magazine, discusses his best-selling examination of America's "new" religion and politics, The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. Hailed by critics, Wallis' book argues that a "groundswell of progressive believers may accomplish a social transformation that politics and politicians cannot deliver." He is also the author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.

THOMAS MULLEN

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author of the acclaimed novel The Last Town on Earth, and a resident of Decatur, joins us to help launch his eagerly anticipated new novel, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers. It's a rollicking, imaginative Depression-era tale complete with kidnappings, gangsters, heiresses and speakeasies, focused on bank-robbing duo Jason and Whit, known as the Firefly Brothers. The novel is all about what happens when you get gunned down in a police shoot-out and go on to find out the truth about your mythical lives. We think it's headed for the top of best-seller lists! Join us for a reception to honor the author.

FRANCES SMITH FOSTER

Monday, February 1, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The distinguished Emory University scholar, discusses her acclaimed new book, 'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love and Marriage in African America. The book is a compelling study of slave marriages that uncovers a rich legacy of love, struggle and commitment in the antebellum era. Critics call it "challenging and important" as it demolishes stereotypes of African Americans during an era when they were treated as chattel. Dr. Foster is the editor of The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature and The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, and the author of a dozen books. She is the Charles Howard Chandler Professor of English and Women's Studies at Emory and the former teacher of the year there.

MICHAEL SHELDEN

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author of acclaimed biographies of Graham Greene and George Orwell, Shelden turns his attention to Mark Twain with an eagerly anticipated new book, Mark Twain: Man in White: The Grand Adventure of His Final Years. It's a deeply researched book utilizing some unpublished sources that brings to vivid life Twain's last years, a period that found the humorist full of charm, vigor and charisma. Critics call it "a breakthrough in Twain biography" and praise the scholarship and writing ("eloquent and moving").

WILLIAM J. MORTON

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Morton visits us to discuss his fascinating new historical study, The Story of Georgia's Boundaries: A Meeting of History and Geography. Morton, who teaches at Emory University, writes about how history, geography and human error have all contributed to shaping our state's borders, and how these circumstances helped create a recent drought-inspired dispute over the correct boundary between Georgia and Tennessee. Critics call the book "informative and enjoyable" and packed with interesting, little-known facts and anecdotes.

JANISSE RAY

Monday, January 25, 2010

7:00 P.M., Fellowship Baptist Church, Fitzgerald, Georgia

The prize-winning and very popular Georgia author, will present a talk based on her acclaimed books Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Wild Card Quilt and Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land. Her work is included on the Georgia Center for the Book's list of "25 Books all Georgians Should Read," and her appearances are part of the "We the People" program funded through the Georgia Humanities Council. 7 p.m., Monday, January 25, Fellowship Baptist Church (126 Lincoln Avenue), Fitzgerald; 7 p.m., Tuesday, January 26, Moultrie/Colquitt Library, Moultrie. (All Georgia Reads/"We the People" program)

AMY GREENE

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We invite you to join us for the debut of a brilliant young writer's novel. Amy Greene comes from the East Tennessee Smoky Mountains, and her first novel Bloodroot is already being hailed by critics as "the work of a born storyteller ... with a deftly conjured atmosphere ... and a literary page-turner." The story follows one remarkable East Tennessee family from the Depression to the present with characters that will cling to your mind and prose so graceful it seems to soar. Don't miss meeting this wonderful new writer!

JAMIE IREDELL

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

The California-born writer now living in Atlanta visits to talk about his remarkable, highly acclaimed new book, Prose. Poems. A Novel. These prose poems "are among the most unique I've read: quirky, irreverent, surprising, funny," says Atlanta poet Thomas Lux. With haunting illustrations by artist Christy Call, these pieces create a powerful, loosely woven narrative of a journey from the West Coast to the east,a journey -- among other things -- out of self-destruction.

RITA DOVE

Friday, January 15, 2010

10:00 A.M., Cole Auditorium, Georgia Perimeter College-Clarkston Campus

The former Poet Laureate of the United States and Virginia and an award-winning poet, makes a special visit to Georgia Perimeter College. The author of many notable volumes of poetry including American Smooth, a short story collection and a novel, Rita Dove will be interviewed by Valerie Jackson during a taping of the program "Between the Lines." Her appearance is free and sponsored by our partner the Writers Institute at GPC as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Chattahoochee Review.

POETRY NIGHT WITH POETRY ATLANTA

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Join us for an evening of the spoken word as we host three of Atlanta's finest poets for a reading from their work as we continue our popular series co-sponsored with Poetry Atlanta and Poets & Writers.
Tara Betts is the author of the book Arc and Hue. Tara is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She is also a Cave Canem fellow. Her poetry has appeared in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and performed her work at venues around the world.
Tania Rochelle is the author of the critically acclaimed collection Karaoke Funeral and the newly released The World’s Last Bone. Rochelle is the poetry editor for Chattahoochee Review and her work has appeared in numerous journals around the country.
Travis Wayne Denton is the Associate Director of Poetry at Tech as well as a McEver Chair in Poetry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the founding editor of Terminus literary magazine and his poems have appeared in journals, magazines and publications around the country. The Burden of Speech is his debut collection of poetry.

JAYNE ANN PHILLIPS

Monday, January 11, 2010

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The acclaimed author of bestsellers Motherkind, Machine Dreams and Shelter, and 2009 National Book Award Finalist, visits us to begin the new year of author lectures with a long-awaited and and wonderful coming-of-age tale of grief and survival, Lark and Termite. It's a novel The New Yorker is calling "a moving exploration of familial love." The story focuses on a week in 1959 when 17-year-old Lark and her mute brother Termite, all struggling with despair and hopelessness, confront some painful truths about their past. It's a "wrenching and suspenseful" portrait of devotion you won't soon forget.

RUSSELL S. BONDS

Thursday, December 17, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author of Stealing the General, Bonds re-tells the epic story of what one observer call 'The greatest event of the Civil War' - the struggle for the city of Atlanta. It was the conflict that secured the re-election of Abraham Lincoln, sealed the fate of the Confederacy, and set a precedent for military campaigns across the world.War Like the Thunderbolt is based on new research into diaries, previously unpublished letters, newspapers, and other archival sources, this superb volume takes readers across the smoky battlefield and into the lives of fascinating characters, both the famous and the forgotten.
Bonds is an in-house lawyer at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta and a lifelong resident of north Georgia.

RICK BRAGG & SONNY BREWER

Friday, December 11, 2009

7:00 P.M., Georgia Perimeter College, Clarkston Campus

Join us for a special evening with two of the finest Southern writers around. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Bragg (All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man) has a wonderful new book, The Most They Ever Had, a powerfully affecting story of a mill community in Alabama and the hardscrabble lives of the people who worked there. Brewer (The Widow of Tolstoy Park) has a terrific new novel, The Widow and the Tree, an Alabama tale of dark deeds based on a true story. Books will be for sale and signing by A Cappella Books; buying your books at this event will benefit the Georgia Center for the Book.

DEIRDRE O'CONNELL

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Prize-winning documentary filmmaker, O'Connell visits us with a remarkable new book: The Ballad of Blind Tom, Slave Pianist. Blind Tom, born in 1848 in Columbus, GA, was a piano prodigy and national curiosity in the 19th century who performed for thousands of people including Mark Twain. He also suffered at the hands of greedy promoters and managers, and this biography is a brilliant accounting of his life. Critics say its well researched narrative "reflects the tenor of the times, the culture of the Old South, the chaos of emancipation and Blind Tom's devotion to his performances."
O'Connell will also appear at the Columbus Library in Columbus, Georgia as part of the Georgia Humanities Council's "We the People" program and is co-sponsored by the Chattahoochee Valley Library on Wednesday, December 9 at 7:00 P.M.

SUE GRAFTON

Friday, December 4, 2009

7:00 P.M., Decatur Presbyterian Church

The "master of mystery" and one of America's most popular authors, makes her first visit to the Georgia Center for the Book with an exciting new Kinsey Millhone mystery: U is for Undertow. It's the 21st in her amazing alphabet mystery series, all featuring the heroine "with foibles you can laugh at and whose faults you can forgive." It's the follow-up novel to her bestseller T is for Trespass. We know you won't want to miss this special pre-Christmas appearance! PLEASE NOTE: in order to participate in the book signing that follows her talk, you must purchase at least one copy of the author's new book at this event.
PARKING INFORMATION
Please be advised that parking at or near the Library and Presbyterian Church is limited. Please click on the link below for parking information for the City of Decatur. We encourage you to park in the County parking Deck on the corner of Trinity and Commerce Streets.
parking
information
Book Drive Sue is collecting book donations on behalf of the Wish You Well Foundation during her book tour. We are one of the venues selected as a collection venue during her tour.Look for the large white box donation box, and simply place your new or gently used books in it.

DOUG CRANDELL

Thursday, December 3, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Crandell's new book is a stunner: Fear Came to Town: The Santa Claus, Georgia, Murders. And it's sadly all true. Santa Claus is a real town in Toombs County, GA, near Vidalia. It's a small town where the streets are named for Christmas treats and the holiday spirit lives year-round. At least it did until Jerry Scott Heidler, who was raised in the town, brutally slaughtered his foster family in a grisly crime that shattered the community. It's an unforgettable story told by the author who carefully investigated the murders. Crandell is also the author of the novels The Flawless Skin of Ugly People and Hairdos of the Mildly Depressed.

SHERRI SHEPHERD

Saturday, November 21, 2009

2:00 P.M., Decatur Recreation Center

You've seen her co-hosting TV's hugely popular show "The View," and now she's visiting us with a delightful, exciting new book, Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break. She is a dynamic, energetic personality whose book exudes the same qualities, and we know you won't want to miss her special appearance with the Georgia Center for the Book. We'll have copies of her new book for sale at this event, and we urge you to purchase yours here, though you may bring one you have already purchased. She'll be signing books after her talk. The Decatur Recreation Center is located at 231 Sycamore St., next door to the Decatur Library. Doors open at 1 p.m.
Because we anticipate a large crowd, we urge you to use the County Parking Deck located on the corner of Commerce and Trinity Streets. For parking information and a map of downtown Decatur, please visit :http://decaturga.com/cgs_citysvcs_ced_parking.aspx

DEBBIE MACOMBER

Friday, November 20, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The bestselling author visits us with a new and unusual book: One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity. It's a book you won't soon forget with "a master storyteller's true stories showing how simple acts of generosity had lasting, life-changing impacts on givers and recipients." It's a heart-sharing book that all Macomber fans will want to celebrate with her here. Her books, which have sold millions of copies, include The Manning Brides, Right Next Door, Moon Over Water and Back on Blossom Street.

MARY KAY ANDREWS

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The delightful Atlanta writer and New York Times bestselling author (Hissy Fit, Savannah Breeze, Deep Dish) Kathy Trocheck returns as Mary Kay Andrews with a laugh-out-loud, wonderful new novel, The Fixer Upper. It's the drop-dead funny story of one woman's quest to re-do an old home. It was written at the same time the author was fixing up an old home at Tybee Beach, and we'll have some before-and-after photos to help illustrate how art imitates life.

RAYMOND ATKINS & PHILIP DEPOY

Monday, November 16, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Two fine Georgia writers visit us to talk about their exciting new books. Ray Atkins, the Rome-based author of The Front Porch Prophet, has a novel about a murder investigation in a small Southern town that leads to secrets of the human soul. It's a page-turner called Sorrow Wood. Philip DePoy's new historical thriller is The King James Conspiracy, centered on a series of gory slayings among the team of scholars preparing a new English translation of the Bible. DePoy's popular novels include Dead Easy and The Drifter's Wheel.

SAVANNAH CHILDREN'S BOOK FESTIVAL

Saturday, November 14, 2009

10 A.M. - 4 P.M., Forsyth Park, Savannah, Georgia

We invite you to the sixth annual festival celebrating authors and illustrators of books for young readers that brings thousands of families to Savannah. The Center for the Book is again one of the participants, and we hope you'll drop by to visit our tent and meet the award-winning writers we'll have with us: Laurel Snyder and Ted Dunagan. Among the dozens of authors who'll be taking part in the festival are Laura Numeroff, Michael P. White and David Biedrzyski. For details, go to www.liveoakpl.org/scbf.

JAMIE FORD

Thursday, November 12, 2009

7:00 P.M., Toco Hill-Avis G. Williams Library

The acclaimed young novelist discusses his first book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Its a powerful story that spans several generations, set on the West Coast during the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. It focuses on a young Chinese boy who falls in love with a Japanese girl and the difficulties and challenges their relationship must endure. Critics call it "engaging," and "an old fashioned historical novel."

JILL MCCORKLE

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of America's favorite writers, joins us at the Center for the Book with a delightful new story collection, her first in eight years, Going Away Shoes. It's a wonderfully embracing book that offers 11 new stories focusing on women looking love in the face without flinching, and it's written with McCorkle's customary wit and depth. We urge you not to miss this exceptional author's appearance here. McCorkle is a native North Carolinian whose many popular novels and collections include The Cheerleader, July 7, Tending to Virginia, Carolina Moon and Ferris Beach.

GORDON WOOD

Monday, November 9, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and one of America's most distinguished historians of early America, discusses his "superb" new book, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815. It's the latest in the acclaimed "Oxford History of the United States" series, a definitive look at what we know about the first quarter-century of our nation's history under the Constitution. Critics are calling it "a triumph of the historian's art."

ATLANTA QUEER LITERARY FESTIVAL

Saturday, November 7, 2009

9 A.M. -6 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Georgia Center for the Book is co-sponsor of this year's event which runs November 4-7, and we'll host a day-long series of programs and workshops on poetry and prose featuring two dozen metro writers including Megan Volpert, James Caroline, Ami Mattison, Franklin Abbott,Sara Amis and others. The complete schedule of events around the Metro-Area may be found at www.atlantaqueerlitfest.blogspot.com.
A Day of Readings & Workshops,
Decatur Library
Meeting Room
9 AM - Wesley Chenault (presentation)
10AM - Regie Cabico (workshop)
11AM - James Caroline (workshop)
NOON - Bob Strain, Dustin Brookshire, Charles Jensen, Joanna Hoffman (poets reading)
1PM - Kit Yan (workshop)
2PM - Marty McConnell (workshop)
3PM - Ami Mattison (workshop)
4PM - Joanna Hoffman (workshop)
5PM - A reading/discussion by contributors to Femmethology (panel and reading)

Library Auditorium
9AM - Franklin Abbott, Reginald Jackson, Regie Cabico, James Caroline (poetry)
10AM - Cleo Creech, Scott Wiggerman, Yolo Akili, Michael Montlack (poetry)
11AM - Elliott Mackle, Roger Bailey, Jameson Currier, John Mifsud (prose)
NOON - Sara Amis, Catherine Lundoff, Lara Zielinsky (prose)
1PM - Karen G, Jessica Hand, Lakara Foster, Marty McConnell (poetry)
2PM - JT bullock, Megan Volpert, Jim Elledge, Joanna Hoffman (poetry)
3PM - Andrew Beierle, G. Winston James, Collin Kelley (prose)
4PM - Terry Galloway (prose)
5PM - Ami Mattison, Theresa Davis, Charles Jensen, Kit Yan (poetry)

MARTHA ACKMANN

Thursday, November 5, 2009

7:30 P.M., Gaines Chapel-Presser Hall, Agnes Scott College

A member of the Gender Studies Department at Mount Holyoke College and a scholar on the life and work of the poet Emily Dickinson, Ackmann presents a lecture on her book, The Mercury 13: The True Story of 13 Women and the Dream of Space Flight. It's the amazing and forgotten story of the women astronauts who trained to go into space in the 1960s. This program is sponsored by Agnes Scott College and the Georgia Humanities Council.

For Directions and parking information, please visit:http://www.agnesscott.edu

KATE JACOBS

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The wonderful "Queen of Knitting Novels" makes a much-anticipated return visit to the Center for the Book to talk about her new book, Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel. It's a sequel to her popular novel Knit Two, and critics are calling it "a moving, laugh-out-loud celebration of special times with friends and family." Jacobs drew a large and enthusiastic crowd for her appearance here last year, and we welcome her back! She is also the author of the bestselling novel Comfort Food.
During the tour for Knit the Season: A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel. , Kate will be helping families stay warm this winter by having host venues participate in the "Warming Families" Campaign. Please consider bringing a hand knit, or new cap to the event to be donated to local shelters. There will also be Door Prizes and a special gifts for attendees. Don't forget to bring your knitting!

PHILIP LEE WILLIAMS WITH SPECIAL GUEST TERRY KAY

Monday, November 2, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of Georgia's finest authors and winner of the Michael Shaara Award for his Civil War novel A Distant Flame, returns with an exciting and brilliantly written new Civil War story, The Campfire Boys. Don't miss this special appearance by Williams in an on-stage conversation with his friend and admiring fellow author, Terry Kay. Williams is a novelist, poet and essayist whose books include The Heart of a Distant Forest and Crossing Wildcat Ridge, and he also is represented on the Georgia Center for the Book's list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read."

PADGETT POWELL

Thursday, October 29, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of America's finest and most original authors, visits us with an electrifying new book, The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? The prize-winning author of four novels including his debut bestseller, Edisto, Powell offers in his latest work, a stunning stylistic feast: a brilliant capture of the swing and snap of American talk, an absorbing "bebop symphony" that pulses with life. Powell currently teaches at the University of Florida.

ERSKINE CLARKE

Thursday, October 29, 2009

4:30 P.M., Southwest Georgia Regional Library

The prize-winning religious historian, will discuss his acclaimed study of slaves and slaveowners in coastal Georgia, Dwelling Place: A Plantation Epic. The book, which won the prestigious Bancroft Prize, offers the compelling story of four generations of a Georgia plantation's inhabitants, white and black. His book appears on the Center for the Book's current list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read," and his lecture is part of the "We the People" program funded by the Georgia Humanities Council. 4:30 p.m., Thursday, October 29, Southwest Georgia Regional Library (Bainbridge).. Clarke will also discuss his book on Friday, October 30 at 7:00 P.M. in the Thomas County Public Library in Thomasville, Georgia. (All Georgia Reads/"We the People" program)

WIL HAYGOOD

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Haygood is the author of a riveting new biography, Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, perhaps the greatest boxer in history. Haygood's book is "a biography worthy of a great athlete and an important social force," vividly detailing the often controversial life in and out of the ring of the legendary Sugar Ray, who was born in rural Ailey, Georgia, in Montgomery County near Vidalia.. His story weaves in some of the major figures in 20th century American history including Langston Hughes, Miles Davis and Lena Horne. Haygood previously has written acclaimed biographies of Adam Clayton Powell and Sammy Davis Jr. Haygood will also present a lecture about his book in Vidalia as part of the "We the People" program funded by the Georgia Humanities Council. 7 p.m., Thursday, October 29, Ohoopee Regional Library (Vidalia). (All Georgia Reads/"We the People" program)

DAVID PLOTZ

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

7:00 P.M., Recepetion Hall, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University

Plotz visits to talk about his delightful, revelatory and entertaining book, Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Discovered When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible. Plotz has raised a few eyebrows with his new book, which offers an unconventional examination of the world's best-known work. Plotz is also the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank. Don't miss this unusual program co-sponsored with Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum.

ROBERT HICKS

Monday, October 26, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author of the popular best-selling novel The Widow of the South, returns with a heart-rending new work, A Separate Country. It's a deeply affecting book based on the life of John Bell Hood, one of the most controversial Confederate Civil War generals. He lost two limbs in action and was relieved of his command just before the Battle of Atlanta. After the war, he married and tried to build a new life but remained damaged by defeat and pain; his story is that of a good and decent man beset by tragedy, and you won't soon forget it when you read Hicks' book.

HANK KLIBANOFF

Sunday, October 25, 2009

3:00 P.M., Athens-Clarke County Library, Athens Regional Library System

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Race Beat, a book that explores with insightful depth the way the news media covered the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in America. He is the former managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His book appears on the Center for the Book's current list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read," and his appearance is part of the "We the People" program funded by the Georgia Humanities Council.

JEANNETTE WALLS

Thursday, October 22, 2009

7:00 P.M., Central Library, One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta

The acclaimed author of the bestseller The Glass Castle, visits to talk about her latest, memorable book, Half Broke Horses: a True-Life Novel. It's the story of her remarkable grandmother, a no-nonsense, hard-working woman who grew up on rough farms in Texas and Arizona and who raised two children, one of whom was Jeanette's mother, so unforgettably portrayed in The Glass Castle. We know you'll love the book and want to meet this popular, gifted author. Co-sponsored by Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. Free parking is now available in the Lanier Parking Deck located directly behind the library building. Simply bring your parking ticket to the reading, and the Library staff will happily validate it for you. Books will be available for sale at the event courtesy of Blue Elephant Bookstore on Decatur.

TERRY KAY

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

7:00 P.M., Young Harris College

The beloved, award-winning Georgia author of books including To Dance with the White Dog, The Story of Marie, The Valley of Light and The Year the Lights Came On, appears in a special program to talk about his life and work. His books appear on the Center for the Book's list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read." His appearance is part of the "We the People" program funded by the Georgia Humanities Council. . Presented with the Mountain Regional Library and Young Harris College. (All Georgia Reads/"We the People" program)

R.A.SALVATORE

Monday, October 19, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

One of the giants of fantasy fiction for young adults and adults visits us for the first time. The author of more than 40 books, a dozen of them New York Times' bestsellers, Salvatore has a terrific, exciting new book: The Ghost King: Transitions, Book III, the gripping conclusion to the Transitions trilogy. When the Spellplague ravages Faerun, Drizzt and his companions are caught in the chaos. Seeking help from the priest Cadderly, the hero of the recently reissued series, The Cleric Quintet, Drizzt finds himself facing his most powerful and elusive foe: the twisted Crenshinibon, the demonic crystal shard believed destroyed many years before.
Doors open at 6:30 P.M. Books will be available for purchase at the event courtesy of Eagle Eye Bookshop in Decatur, and a portion of the proceeds directly benefit the Georgia Center for the Book. Mr. Salvatore will be happy to sign backlist titles.

GEORGIA LITERARY FESTIVAL

Saturday, October 17, 2009

9 A.M. - 5 P.M., Broad St. , Rome, Georgia

The 11th annual festival, a "moveable feast" that celebrates Georgia's rich literary heritage in a different city each year, will be held in Rome. It marks the festival's first appearance in Northwest Georgia. More than 30 authors will be lecturing, appearing on panels and signing books including Terry Kay, Hollis Gillespie, Virginia Willis, Robert J. Norrell, Lauretta Hannon, Patricia Sprinkle, Eric Haney, Joshilyn Jackson, Raymond Atkins and Kim Siegelson. The festival also will pay a special tribute to four Georgia writers: Anthony Grooms, Melanie Sumner and the late Calder Willingham and Jeanne Braselton. All events are free; no tickets required. For details, go to www.georgialiteraryfestival.org.

Cobb is the B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Georgia and one of the nation's finest historians of the South. He is the prize-winning author and editor of a dozen books including Georgia Odyssey, which is on the Center for the Book's current list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read." His appearance is part of the All Georgia Reads/"We the People" program funded by the Georgia Humanities Council

JUDSON MITCHAM

Thursday, August 6, 2009

6:30 P.M., Cherokee Regional Library, LaFayette, Georgia

An All Georgia Reads/"We the People" program featuring the two time winner winner of the prestigious Townsend Award, is an acclaimed poet and novelist from Macon whose books include Sabbath Creek and The Sweet Everlasting. His new book of poetry, A Little Salvation, is on the Center for the Book's current list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read." His appearance of part of the "We the People" program funded by the Georgia Humanities Council.

JAMES BRAZIEL

Monday, August 3, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We don't want to scare you, but author James Braziel has written a book with a pretty scary premise, and he's coming to talk about on Monday evening. The novel is Snakeskin Road, and it's a powerful story, a cautionary, futuristic tale of a woman's harrowing journey of survival through a familiar landscape devastated by catastrophic climactic change. In other words, it's a scenario for what could happen -- and it's set in the Southeastern United States. Braziel is the author of two acclaimed novels, Birmingham, 35 Miles. This one is the newest and his best, we think. We think you'll also enjoy hearing from him and discussing all of the possibilities his story envisions. We'll have copies of his book for sale and signing, provided by our Friends at Eagle Eye Bookshop in Decatur.

STEPHEN L. CARTER

Friday, July 31, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Carter, whose brilliant debut novel The Emperor of Ocean Park was a New York Times bestselling novel, returns with something different: a new book, Jericho's Fall, centered on the shadowy world of spies, government secrecy and financial fraud. It's a riveting thriller for Carter, professor of Law at Yale University since 1982. His other books, all featured on many bestseller lists, include Palace Council and New England White. Doors for this event open at 6:30 p.m. Please use the library's lower rear entrance to enter the Auditorium.

COLEMAN BARKS

Thursday, July 30, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The distinguished, prize-winning poet and translator, visits us with an important new book, Winter Sky: New and Selected Poems, 1968-2008. Critics are calling it "masterful," rich in vitalilty and originality, "funny, brave and honest." Barks has taught creative writing and American poetry in the English department at the University of Georgia for 30 years, and has written and translated dozens of books. He is the foremost translator of the 13th century mystic poet Jalal Al-Din, and his bestsellers include The Essential Rumi, The Soul of Rumi and Rumi: The Book of Love.

RICHARD DOSTER

Monday, July 27, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The fine, award-winning Atlanta author, returns with an exciting, throught-provoking new novel: Crossing the Lines. The story focuses on events of the mid-1950s when Jack Hall, a reporter for the AJC, encounters stories of white violence against black Americans. He sets out to counter those stories with those of the South he knows well and loves, only to find there are important, hidden connections between the best and worst in the region. Doster is editor of byFaith magazine, the official publication of the Presbyterian Church in America and a native of Mississippi.

JOSHUA CORIN & ZACHARY STEELE

Thursday, July 23, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

A pair of absolutely delightful debut fantasy novelists join us for what promises to be a wild and crazy evening! Steele, until recently the owner of Wordsmiths Bookstore in Decatur, has a hilarious "biting satire" called Anointed: The Passion of Timmy Christ. It's an entertaining spin on religion, big business and the apocalypse that should have a special appeal for fans of fantasy fiction. Corin's novel is Nuclear Winter Wonderland: A Tale of Nuclear Terror, Kidnapping, Gangsters and Family Values. Critics call it a "surreal comedy thriller" and Booklist gives it a starred review. Don't miss the fun with these two authors reading on our stage.

MATTHEW H. BERNSTEIN

Monday, July 13, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Bernstein,professor, chair and director of graduate studies in the Film Studies Department at Emory University, visits with a unique program on one of the worst crimes in Atlanta's history: The murder of Leo Frank in 1913. In his revelatory new book, Screening a Lynching, Bernstein is the first scholar to examine feature films and television programs that followed in the wake of the sensational case. For this evening's presentation, he will show clips from some of these programs and offer insights into the cultural aspects of the productions to illuminate issues of race, ethnicity, religion and law. It will be a dramatic, important evening.

CHARLES MARTIN

Monday, June 29, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Martin is the author of five acclaimed novels including Chasing Fireflies, Maggie and When Crickets Cry, returns with his latest, Where the River Ends. It's a heartbreaking tale, filled with "unabashed romanticism" that will remind readers of Nicholas Sparks with its story of a man carrying out his wife's last wish on a wild river in Georgia. Martin lives in Jacksonville.

DON O'BRIANT WITH JIM COBB

Monday, June 22, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Whether you're a newcomer to this state or a native, you'll find yourself learning something new and being entertained in the process at this program featuring author and former AJC book editor Don O'Briant and prize-winning UGA historian Dr. James Cobb. O'Briant will talk about his new book, Newcomer's Guide to Georgia, a delightfully comprehensive look at the whos, whys and wheres of the Peach State, while Cobb will reflect on his acclaimed book about the state's wild and crazy history, Georgia Odyssey.

POETRY ATLANTA:TROUBLE & HOPE

Thursday, June 18, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Center for the Book welcomes the continuing new partnership with Poetry Atlanta for another special evening of poetry and film. Trouble & Hope is DVD anthology of poets in performance and conversation more than two years in the making. The film features some of Atlanta's finest poets and spoken word artists. Featured on the DVD are: Travis Denton, Kodac Harrison, Karen Head, Collin Kelley, Alice Lovelace, Opal Moore, Natasha Trethewey, Dan Veach, Megan Volpert and a special tribute to the late Shannon Leigh. Filmed at locations around Atlanta, including Java Monkey Coffee House, Composition Gallery and the Decatur Book Festival, this special DVD will be available for purchase for $15 at the event ( CASH AND CHECKS ONLY,PLEASE), and several of the featured poets will be on hand to answer questions.

JOHN FERLING

Monday, June 8, 2009

7:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Ferling, the award-winning historian, returns with his perceptive new look at a familiar figure, The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon. Hailed as a man who put country above politics and who served only for the best interest of his country, Washington is shown by Ferling to be a great man in spite of his deep personal ambition and the decisions he made based on political considerations. This is Ferling's seventh book about our Founding Fathers including A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic and Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800.
We will also raffle a selection history books prior to the program, so come early and get your ticket at the door!
Please note the early start time for this program.

PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY

Monday, June 1, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The wonderful Atlanta author whose best-selling books include Where the River Runs and Between the Tides, joins us for a celebration of her new, delightful novel, Driftwood Summer. She'll read from the book and talk about her work and then sign copies at the library. Then near 9 p.m., we'll adjourn to her official "Book Launch Party" at the Roof-top patio at the Artisan, 201 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.Please note the new location.The party is co-sponsored with the Decatur Book Festival, so plan to be with us for both parts of this delightful free event!

ROBYN O'BRIEN

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

O'Brien, a national expert on children's health and food allergies, will discuss her important new book, The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making Us Sick -- and What We Can Do About It. The book describes her transformation into a one-woman crusader seeking to identify food allergies that affect children, and her discovery of shocking truths about toxicity in American food systems. Parents won't want to miss this program. O'Brien is the founder of AllergyKids, an organization devoting to raising awareness about food toxins. She has been featured in The New York Times and CNN.

DOUGLAS PRESTON & LINCOLN CHILD

Saturday, May 23, 2009

1:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, the celebrated authors of such national bestsellers as Relic, Reliquary and The Book of the Dead pay us a visit to talk about their latest Pendergast novel, Cemetery Dance. It's a thriller featuring the world's most enigmatic special agent, this time investigating a murderous cult in New York City after a Manhattan couple is brutally attacked -- by a man who died and was buried 10 days earlier. Please note the special time for this event. A Literary Arts Festival program presented in conjunction with the Decatur Arts Festival

BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR

Thursday, May 21, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author of the acclaimed memoir, Leaving Church, about her departure from the full-time ministry to become an educator, has a wonderful new book, Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith. In her 12 chapters, she mines the potentially sacred meaning of simple daily activities and offers a guide to finding the holy in everyday life. Don't miss this memorable program! A Literary Arts Festival program presented as part of the Decatur Arts Festival

LEONARD TODD

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Leonard Todd tells a scarcely believable but true story in his new book, Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend ot the Slave Potter Dave. Todd moved to South Carolina to learn more about the slave known only as Dave, who was owned by Todd's ancestors. Dave was one of the most singular artists of the 19th century, creating remarkable storage jars and pots and signing them with poems, unheard of for a slave to admit such literacy. His work today, only rarely available, draws hundreds of thousands of dollars. A Literary Arts Festival program presented as part of the Decatur Arts Festival

ALEKSANDAR HEMON

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Hemon, who was recently awarded a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, visits to discuss his new book, Love and Obstacles, a powerful, disquieting collection of eight stories whose settings range from Chicago to the author's native Sarajevo. Hemon's acclaimed books include The Lazarus Project, a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, Nowhere Man and The Question of Bruno. He is also a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A Literary Arts Festival program presented as part of the Decatur Arts Festival

MINDY FRIDDLE

Monday, May 18, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Author of the fine debut novel The Garden Angel, returns with a delightful new novel that will remind many of Lee Smith, Secret Keepers. Its the story of a divided family in a small Southern town drawn together by a mysterious and potent botanical influence. Friddle is a prize-winning author who lives in Greenville, SC. A Literary Arts Festival program presented as part of the Decatur Arts Festival

MICHAEL MALONE

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Michael Malone, a "master of storytelling" and winner of an Edgar Award, the O. Henry Prize and an Emmy for television writing, makes his first visit to us with a terrific new novel, The Four Corners of the Sky. Malone, who has written 10 bestselling novels including Dingley Falls, Handling Sin, Time's Witness and Foolscap, is better than ever with his latest book, "a novel of love, secrets, and the mysterious bonds that help hold families together."

ARTHUR PHILLIPS

Monday, May 11, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The best-selling author of Prague and The Egyptologist, and hailed by The Washington Post as "one of the best writers in America," will talk about his acclaimed new novel, The Song is You. It's a powerful, original and lyrical gem, a "closely observed tale of an unusual love in the digital age."

RIVER OF WORDS AWARDS CEREMONY

Saturday, May 9, 2009

3:00 P.M., Chattahoochee Nature Center, Roswell

Our popular statewide student competition in poetry and visual arts, will end by honoring this year's winners at a special ceremony. You're invited to meet and celebrate with us as we display the student's award-winning entries for the first time. A reception follows the event.

JIM LEHRER

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Jim Lehrer, the respected host of PBS NewsHour, makes a special visit with his 19th novel, the new and delilghtful Oh, Johnny, a story "brimming with memorable characters" that cleverly and humorously blends baseball, World War II and romance. You won't want to miss this this talk by Lehrer, whose many popular novels include Mack to the Rescue, Flying Crows, Kick the Can and The Phony Marine. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited, no advance reservations or tickets, first-come, first-seated. Additional parking may be located at the County Parking Deck next to the DeKalb County Courthouse on the corner of Commerce Dr. and W. Trinity place. Additional Parking information can be obtained at: www.decaturga.com, then click on "visitors".

LAURETTA HANNON

Monday, May 4, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Hannon, who grew up in Warner Robins and now lives in Atlanta, has written a wonderful first book that is getting lots of attention: The Cracker Queen. It's an unflinching, poignant, warmly humorous memoir that takes readers on a wild ride from central Georgia to Savannah with a cast of dysfunctional families and a lively crew of hell-raisers and renegades.Hannon is best known for her engaging commentaries on NPR.

DECATUR GREEN FESTIVAL FEATURING LYNN COULTER AND PATRICIA KRYSTI HOWELL

Saturday, May 2, 2009

2:00 P.M. and 4 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Author events for the Green festival have been CANCELLED

DARA TORRES

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

7:00 P.M., Day Chapel, Jimmy Carter Center

Dara Torres, the Olympic gold medal swimmer, will be our guest for a very special evening talking about her new book, Age is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage of Your Life. It's a motivational, inspirational memoir by the amazing 41-year-old mother who won America's hearts when she made a successful Olympic comeback in the 2008 Beijing Games. Doors open at 6. No tickets or reservations, first-come, first-seated.

GEORGIA DEBUT AUTHOR NIGHT FEATURING MARK FITTEN AND LALEH KHADIVI

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We welcome two more talented Georgia authors with their wonderful new first novels. Marc Fitten is the very gifted editor of Chattahoochee Review whose novel Valeria's Last Stand is a comic feast set in 1990s Hungary. Laleh Khadivi is the author of The Age of Orphans, a novel acclaimed already as a "stunning" work of great originality framed in graphic, poetic language.

GEORGIA DEBUT AUTHOR NIGHT FEATURING SANDRA NOVACK AND SUSAN REBECCA WHITE

Monday, April 27, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

We welcome two wonderfully talented Georgia authors who are celebrating the publication of their first novels. Susan Rebecca White is the Atlanta-born author of Bound South, a delicious, compelling story of the clash of women caught between old-fashioned Atlanta traditions and 21st century reality. Sandra Novack's new novel Precious is a novel you won't soon forget, a lyrical, finely crafted story about family love, its costs and its consequences.

LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE AWARD CEREMONY

Saturday, April 25, 2009

2:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

You are cordially invited to join us for the 8th annual awards ceremony honoring statewide winners in our student literary competition. Students in grades 4-12 around Georgia have written letters to their favorite authors, and the winning entries as judged nationally and locally will be celebrated this afternoon. The short program is open to everyone; a reception follows.

CHRISTOPHER MANGANIELLO

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

7:00 P.M., Cebtral Library-Atlanta Fulton Public Library

Christopher J. Manganiello along with Paul Sutter, are the editors of an important new book, Environmental History and the American South. The book, which ranges from the Texas plains to the Carolina lowcountry, examines social and racial histories of environmental thought and shows "what has made the South a unique and complicated place...in its culture and economy as in its climate and terrain." Sutter teaches at UGA and is the author of Driven Wild: How the Fight Against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement. This event will be held at the Central Library, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, 1 Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta.

KEVIN WILSON

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Kevin Wilson visits to discuss his highly praised new book, a dazzling collection of stories, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories . Critics are calling this collection "a superb, often audacious" grouping of stories "that rework the ordinary into surreal yet hauntingly plausible worlds, from which we emerge seeing ourselves with fresh, if somewhat nervous, clarity."

GWEN IFILL

Monday, April 20, 2009

7:00 P.M., Presser Hall, Agnes Scott College

Senior Correspondent for NPR and "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" and moderator of last fall's Vice-presidential debates, will discuss her critically acclaimed new book, The Breakthrough: Race and Politics in the Age of Obama. This is a re-scheduled appearance due to a cancellation here in February . Doors open at 6 p.m. No advance reservations or tickets, first-come, first-seated. Parking available in the Agnes Scott parking garage. For directions, please visit www.agnesscott.edu. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

LEONARD PITTS

Friday, April 17, 2009

7:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Leonard Pitts, Jr., who won the Pulitzer Prize for political commentary in his nationally syndicated newspaper column, makes a special visit here to talk about a new venture: his first novel, Before I Forget. It's a story of passion and courage exploring the difficult relationships between fathers and sons. Critics say "it's a must for male readers that women need to hear, too." Please note the special start time for this program.

PHILIP LEE WILLIAMS & KODAC HARRISON

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Two of Georgia's finest and best-known poets join us for a special evening that poetry lovers won't want to miss. Williams, who has won a number of awards for his novels and essays including Georgia Author of the Year, will read from his new collection, Elegies for the Water. Harrison has published in numerous magazines and books and directs the very popular Java Monkey Speaks Poetry Series in Decatur.

CELEBRATING EUDORA WELTY

Monday, April 13, 2009

4:30-8:00 P.M., Georgia State University & Rialto Center for the Arts

The "Eudora Welty Centennial Lecture" features Dr. Daniele Pitavy-Souques, internationally recognized Welty scholar from Dijon, France. Her talk begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Speakers Auditorium in the Student Center Building at at Georgia State University. A Welty party follows from 6-8 p.m. at the Rialto Center for the Arts featuring jazz and refreshments and readings from Welty's works by noted Atlanta actors Brenda Bynum and Tom Key. All activities are free.

POETRY ATLANTA FEATURING PAUL GUEST & MEGAN VOLPERT

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The Georgia Center for the Book is pleased to begin a new partnership with Poetry Atlanta. Poetry Atlanta will present readings at the Decatur Library, bringing the finest poets in Metro-Atlanta to our stage. The first program features Guest, a poet paralyzed since the age of 12 and the author of the acclaimed My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge. Volpert, from Atlanta, is the author of two sharply written, amusing books, The Desense of Nonfense and Face Blindness.

Kathryn Stockett, Mississippi-born author now living in Atlanta, unveils her first novel, The Help, already being hailed by critics as a "contemporary classic." It's an unforgettable novel of three women and the crossing of racial barriers in 1960s Mississippi, a "timeless and universal story." Joining Stockett will be Octavia Spencer, an Atlanta actor, who will take part in the program.

CHRISTOPHER DICKEY

Monday, February 9, 2009

7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

Correspondent for Newsweek and son of the late poet James Dickey, will discuss his new book, Securing the City: Inside America's Counterror Best: The NYPD. It's a tribute to the New York City police department and an examination of why it has been successful in protecting America's largest city.

SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL

Friday, February 6, 2009

, Savannah, Georgia

The lovely coastal city welcomes Roy Blount Jr., Paula Deen, Ferrol Sams, J.A. Jance, Mary Kay Andrews, Judith Ortiz Cofer, David Bottoms, Jabari Asim, Natasha Trethewey, Douglas Blackmon, Julia Reed, Damon Lee Fowler and more than 15 other authors for the second annual event. Most programs free. Details at www.savannahbookfestival.org. February 6-8, locations around Savannah.

WOMEN POETS NIGHT

Thursday, February 5, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Women Poets Night, features a pair of extremely gifted women poets who will talk about and read from their work. Andrea Cohen grew up in Atlanta and is the author of an acclaimed new book of poems, Long Division. She is director of the Blacksmith House Poetry Series and writes about marine research at MIT. Beth Gylys is an Associate Professor at Georgia State University. Her book, Spot in the Dark won the Ohio State University Press Journal Prize.Joining them will be Atlantan Lynn Pedersen, whose new book is Theories of Rain. Her poems, essays and reviews have appeared in many publications including Southern Poetry Review and New England Review.

WOMEN POETS NIGHT

Thursday, February 5, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Women Poets Night, features a pair of extremely gifted women poets who will talk about and read from their work. Andrea Cohen grew up in Atlanta and is the author of an acclaimed new book of poems, Long Division. She is director of the Blacksmith House Poetry Series and writes about marine research at MIT. Beth Gylys is an Associate Professor at Georgia State University. Her book, Spot in the Dark won the Ohio State University Press Journal Prize.Joining them will be Atlantan Lynn Pedersen, whose new book is Theories of Rain. Her poems, essays and reviews have appeared in many publications including Southern Poetry Review and New England Review.

STEPHANIE KALLOS

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

A nationally known actress, teacher and author of the award-winning novel Broken for You, visits with a powerful new novel, Sing them Home. Set in a small Nebraska town "where the living get more attention than the dead," it tells of the three Jones children searching for answers in the decades following their mother's disappearance in a tornado.

GWEN IFILL

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

CANCELLED, Presser Hall, Agnes Scott College

Due to unexpected family circumstances, Ms. Ifill has unfortunately cancelled this event. We are working to reschedule this lecture, and will have information about a future date soon.

WRITERS ON WRITING

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Writers on Writing is an evening discussion featuring three outstanding Georgia authors talking about "The Sophomore Slump: Writing the Second Book." The panel includes Jack Riggs, whose second novel The Fireman's Wife was just published; Renee Dodd, winner of the Townsend Prize for her first novel A Cabinet of Wonders; and Tom Mullen, whose acclaimed first novel was The Last Town on Earth.

E. LYNN HARRIS

Thursday, January 29, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

E. Lynn Harris, one of America's most popular writers and author of 10 previous novels and a memoir, talks about his latest, Basketball Jones. Early reviewers call it "a rip-roaring tale of sex, secrets, betrayal and blackmail," set in and around the world of NBA basketball stars. Harris explores the consequences of loving someone forced to conform to the rules society decrees for its public heroes.

DR. PEARL MCHANEY PRESENTS EUDORA WELTY SERIES

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Pearl McHaney, professor at Georgia State University and one of America's top literary authorities on the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty, delivers the first of three lectures on Welty's life and work in a new "University in the Library" series. Her topic for this first program is "Eudora Welty's Cosmos: One Writer's Beginnings and Photographs." You'll learn much about this beloved author from one of the experts who knows her best.

ROBERT J. NORRELL

Monday, January 26, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Robert Norrell will discuss his compelling new biography of Booker T. Washington, Up from History, the first full-length study of Washington in a generation. Norrell recreates the circumstances in which Washington worked: in a deeply segregated South under a legal system controlled by white bigots. Norrell points to Washington's accomplishments and argues for his crucial role in pursuing justice for his race. The author is professor of history at the University of Tennessee.

CAROLYN JESSOP

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Carolyn Jessop, is the author of Escape, a gripping and almost unbelievable book about her 2003 escape from a radical polygamist cult. She writes, "At 18, I became the fourth wife of a 50-yerar-old man. I had eight children in 15 years. When our leader began to preach the apocalypse, I knew I had to get them out." How she managed that and what her life has been like since will leave audiences stunned. Don't miss this special lecture.

JACK RIGGS

Thursday, January 15, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Jack Riggs, prize-winning Atlanta author and writer-in-residence at Georgia Perimeter College, returns with his eagerly anticipated second novel, The Fireman's Wife. His first novel, When the Finch Rises, won him the Georgia Author of the Year award for 2003, and his new book is a powerful and unflinching look at motherhood, heroism, love and loss, set in South Carolina in the 1970s.

DR. RUDOLPH BYRD

Monday, January 12, 2009

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Rudolph P. Byrd, professor of American Studies at Emory University, visits for a special "University in the Library" program for his new book, The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson. Byrd is the founding director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute at Emory and a nationally recognized authority on Johnson (1871-1938) a novelist, poet, ethno-musicologist and one of the pioneering figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Byrd's book includes all his major writings and two never-before-published plays

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

,

The Georgia Center for the Book wishes all of our friends and families a very happy new year. We look forward to seeing you often in 2009.

Bill Starr & Joe Davich

TED TURNER

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Center- Day Chapel

One of America's best-known figures, Ted Turner, has written an exciting memoir reflecting on his 70 years as media mogol, philanthropist, owner of the Atlanta Braves, husband to Jane Fonda and one of the richest men in the world. Call Me Ted chronicles his fascinating rise and offers glimpses into his advernturous, eccentric and sometimes lonely empire. Doors open at 6 P.M. Mr. Turner WILL NOT sign books at this event, however a limited number of signed copies of his book will be for sale.

TOM CHAFFIN

Monday, December 8, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Chaffin, professor of history and director of the James Polk Correspondence Project at the University of Tennessee, returns to the Center for the Book to discuss his new book, The H.L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy. The Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in the Civil War, but it mysteriously vanished for over a century before it was located under Charleston harbor. Don't miss Chaffin's fascinating account of the sub's remarkable history.

A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS

Sunday, December 7, 2008

12-4 P.M., Wren' Nest, 1050 Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd. SW

We invite you to celebrate a Victorian Christmas and the birthday of Georgia's own Joel Chandler Harris, creator of B'rer Rabbit, at the historic Wren's Nest in Atlanta. The free events including storytelling, tours of the Harris home, activities for children and hot chocolate and birthday cake! The Wren's Nest is one of the partners of the Georgia Center for the Book and is located at 1050 Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard SW. For information on this special event, call 404-753-7735.

TOM LUX AND PAUL GUEST

Monday, December 1, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Two of Georgia's finest poets read from their new collections on this special evening. Prize-winning poet Guest is a visiting professor at the University of West Georgia, and his new book is My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge. Lux, who holds the Bourne Chair in Poetry and directs the Visiting Writers Program at Georgia Tech, will read from his acclaimed book, God Particles: Poems.

CARY BYNUM WITH BRENDA BYNUM

Monday, November 24, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Cary, an award-winning, and Emmy Nominated playwright, is the author of four published volumes: Cabbagetown: 3 Women, Six Short Plays, The Chinaberry Tree & Other Poems, and Sea Vigil: Poems. Brenda, acted, directed, and produced theatre programs and plays that have received acclaim in many different venues. She recently did a highly praised interpretation of Flannery O'Connor at Emory University. The evening's event will feature a poetry reading by Cary with dramatic interpretations by Brenda. Also, we'll celebrate the holidays with a huge book giveaway this evening!

VIRGINIA WILLIS WITH GENA BERRY

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

In her newest book, Bon Appetit, Ya'll!, trained French Chef, Willis blends the artistry of French cuisine, with the down-home flavor of Southern Cookin'. Virginia will share her recipes and culinary tricks just in time for the holidays!
Virginia will be joined on stage be fellow Les Dames D'Escoffier member Gena Berry of Culinary Works for this lively discussion.

ERIC JEROME DICKEY

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

7:00 P.M., Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown Library

Dickey will debut his new novel, Dying for Revenge with his reading for the Georgia Center for the Book. A nominee for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Dickey is the author of seventeen sexy, savvy, African American-themed bestselleing novels, including the bestsellers Sleeping With Strangers, Waking With Enemies, and his latest, Pleasure. He was named Author of the Year by the African American Literary Award Show in 2004.

CATHERINE OGLESBY

Monday, November 17, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Our popular "University at the Library" series returns with a reading from a fascinating new biography of a beloved, but nearly forgotten Georgia author, Corra Harris, one of the most widely published and nationally popular women writers in the United States. Harris' A Circuit Rider's Wife was Georgia's most celebrated novel for nearly three decades. Now little read and almost forgotten, Harris's life offers a fascinating glimpse into a world nearly unimaginable to us today. Oglesby, a Professor of history at Valdosta State University, tackles the complexities of race, class, and gender in a gracefully written biography, Corra Harris and the Divided Mindof the New South.

DAVID S. WILLIAMS

Thursday, November 13, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

From Mounds to Megachurches is a sweeping overview of the role religion has played in Georgia's history, from the diverse religious population in Colonial Georgia to the dominance of evangelicalism in the modern era.Williams presents a representative and balanced account of Georgia's religious heritage, and sheds new light on what it means to be a Georgian by exploring an issue that remains central to life in the Sunbelt South.

RENEE DODD

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Dodd, awarded the 2008 Townsend Prize for Fiction for her highly praised debt novel, A Cabinet of Wonders, returns to the Georgia Center for the Book to give a lecture as the recipient of that award. Awarded biennially, the Townsend Prize for Fiction is given to a Georgia Writer judged to have published the best work of Fiction in the two previous years. Dodd"s book is also on the current "List of 25 Books All Georgians Should Read".

JOSHILYN JACKSON

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The best selling author and Atlanta resident returns to the Georgia Center for the Book to give a lecture as the Writer-in-Residence at Georgia Perimeter College. Jackson, the Author of Gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, and her latest, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, will discuss her writing, and share her views, techniques and opinions about the craft.

RON RASH

Thursday, October 30, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The quiet, Appalachian storyteller returns with his fourth novel,Serena, a masterful tale of of violence and beauty, love and honor. Rash captures the very soul of the Appalachian landscape and its people in yet another astounding novel.
The story unfolds in 1929 when George Pemberton seeks to expand his logging in western North Carolina bringing with him his beautiful and ruthless wife, Serena.

GEORGE C. HERRING

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

The distinguished, award-winning historian, gives us an engrossing overview of American diplomacy in his new book, From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Herring uses foreign relations as the lens through which to tell the story of America's dramatic rise from thirteen disparate colonies huddled along the Atlantic coast to the world's greatest superpower.
It's the latest volume in the Oxford History of the United States series, "the most respected multi-volume history of our nation", a series that includes three Pulitzer Prize-winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of prestigious Bancroft and Parkman Prizes.

PAUL A. LOMBARDO

Monday, October 27, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

PAUL LOMBARDO, professor of law at Georgia State University, writes about a shameful moment in American history in his new book, Three Generations: No Imbeciles. It's a powerful chronicle of the 1927 Supreme Court case that approved laws allowing states to perform surgery to prevent "feebleminded and socially inadequate" people from having children. The law has never been overturned.

GEORGIA LITERARY FESTIVAL

Saturday, October 25, 2008

10 A.M. - 4 P.M., Bainbridge, Georgia

GEORGIA LITERARY FESTIVAL, moves to Bainbridge in Southwest Georgia for a fun day packed with author readings, signings and workshops featuring Mary Kay Andrews, NBC space correspondent Jay Barbree, children's book illustrator Michael P. White, mystery author Claire Matturo and 15 others. It's our free, all-day event. Click on the link on the homepage for details and to download a schedule of readings and events!

STEVEN T. WAX

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

In his twenty-nine years as a public defender, Wax had never had to warn a client that he or she might be taken away to a military brig, or worse, a "black site," one of our country's dreaded secret prisons. How had our country come to this? The disappearance of people happens in places ruled by tyrants, military juntas, fascist strongmen:governments with such contempt for the rule of law that they strip their citizens of all rights. But in America?

Wax interweaves the stories of two men that he and his team represented: Brandon Mayfield, an American-born small town lawyer and family man, arrested as a suspected terrorist in the Madrid train station bombings after a fingerprint was incorrectly traced back to him by the FBI; and Adel Hamad, a Sudanese hospital administrator taken from his apartment to a Pakistani prison and then flown in chains to the United States military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ,Kafka Comes to Americareveals where and how our civil liberties have been eroded for a false security, and how each of us can make a difference. If these events could happen to Brandon Mayfield and Adel Hamad, they can happen to anyone. It could happen to us. It could happen to you.

RUSSELL SHORTO

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Public Library

The author of the terrific popular history The Island at the Center of the World, discusses his engaging new intellectual detective story, Decartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason. It's an amazing story that examines how the skull of the 17th Century French thinker became separated from the rest of his remains and where it is today.

MICHAEL LARGO

Monday, October 20, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Atlanta resident Largo, whose book The Portable Obituary chronicled how the rich and famous died, returns with an entertaining new book, Genius and Heroin: The Illustrated Catalogue of Creativity, Obsession, and Reckless Abandon Through the Ages. It's about how the famously talented mixed their genius with an urge for self-destructiveness.

Friday, October 17, 2008

7:00-10:30 P.M., Callanwolde Arts Center

A special fund-raising event for the DeKalb Library Foundation. Come enjoy a lovely evening at the
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center featuring dining, dancing and best-selling authors. Meet authors: Carmen Deedy, Joshilyn Jackson, Terry Kay and J. Tom Morgan, and hear about their works, their lives and passions. Enjoy heavy hors d'oeuvres, an open bar, silent auction and the band.
This event is hosted by the DeKalb Library Foundation to support DeKalb County Public Library programs and literacy services.
Tickets are $150 per person and $200 per person (with VIP reception 6-7 P.M.). For information, call 404-370-8450, ext. 2238.
Or register on the website:
http://ANovelAffair.kintera.org

JAY ALLISON

Monday, October 13, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Due to circumstances beyond our control, this event has been cancelled.

OMAR TYREE

Thursday, October 9, 2008

7:00 P.M., Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown Library

New York Times' bestselling author, returns with a hot new novel, Pecking Order. The popular author of Single Mom and The Last Street Novel, writes about an ambitious young accountant who jumps into the high-stakes racket of celebrity parties in Southern California.

DEXTER FILKINS

Thursday, October 2, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

"The preeminent war correspondent of this generation," discusses his powerful new book, The Forever War. It is a collection of the author's work for The New York Times covering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 1998, and it is is an eye-opener in its vast scope and revealing, intimate detail.

ANNETTE GORDON-REED

Monday, September 29, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Professor of law at New York Law School and a professor of history at Rutgers University,Annette Gordon-Reed joins us to talk about her new book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. She is also the author of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy.
In her new, epic work, Gordon-Reed tells the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president had been systematically expunged from American history until very recently. Now, Gordon-Reed traces the Hemings family from its origins in Virginia in the 1700s to the family's dispersal after Jefferson's death in 1826. It brings to life not only Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson but also their children and Hemings's siblings, who shared a father with Jefferson's wife, Martha. The Hemingses of Monticello sets the family's compelling saga against the backdrop of Revolutionary America, Paris on the eve of its own revolution, 1790s Philadelphia, and plantation life at Monticello. Much anticipated, this book promises to be the most important history of an American slave family ever written.

BILL MURPHY, JR.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

4:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

In A Time of War chronicles the lives of two members of West Point's class of 2002 in the five years following their graduation. Transformed by the attacks of September 11th, the class of 2002 was the first in a generation to graduate in wartime. When President Bush addressed them at their commencement ceremony, they understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. From Iraq to Afghanistan, this is a story of soldiers, families, courage and honor.
Murphy worked as a research assistant for Bob Woodward's State of Denial. He is a lawyer and former Army Reserve officer. He reported from Iraq for The Washington Post in 2007.

STUART WOODS

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

International best-selling author, Woods, is back with an entertaining new Stone Barrington novel, Hot Mahogany, Woods' 30th novel cleverly mixes spying and Army intelligence with an unusual hobby -- antique furniture -- to give readers another fast-paced adventure.

RICK ATKINSON

Monday, September 22, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

In the Pulitzer Prize winning An Army at Dawn, Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
Rick Atkinson was a staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post for more than twenty years. He is the bestselling author of An Army at Dawn, The Long Gray Line, In the Company of Soldiers, and Crusade. His many awards include Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and history.

BRAD MELTZER

Friday, September 19, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Meltzer is the author of The New York Times' #1 bestseller, The Book of Fate and five other best-selling chillers. His new novel is The Book of Lies, his most thrilling and emotionally powerful book to date. Meltzer's mystery poses questions about the link between murders separated by thousands of years going back to Cain and Abel. It's filled with secret societies, conspiracies and a pulse-pounding pace that readers will find irresistible. Don't miss this special appearance by Meltzer!

THOMAS FRANK

Thursday, September 18, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Frank, the New York Times' bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, visits to discuss his powerful new book, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Reviewers call it "a no-holds-barred exegesis on the naked cynicism of conservatism in America." It's a serious, critical examination of corruption in Washington as the author argues that the same politicians who laughed at the mere idea of effective government have themselves created a government in which incompetence is the rule. We'll have opportunities for audience members to question the speaker.
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT SEATING IS LIMITED, AND YOU SHOULD PLAN TO ARRIVE EARLY TO ENSURE SEATING.

HELENE COOPER

Monday, September 15, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library

Don't miss this special presentation by award-winning journalist Cooper, whose new book, The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood, is getting rave reviews. It's a tragic, funny, poignant memoir of her youth in Liberia and what occurred after she and her family were exiled to America. Her book is the new monthly selection for readers at Starbucks!

REV. RUN--CANCELLED

Thursday, August 21, 2008

7:00 P.M., Cole Fine Arts Auditorium

Cancelled due to Scheduling conflict

NOAH ANDRE TRUDEAU

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

7:15 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium

Trudeau, the award-winning Civil war historian and author of Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage, discusses his revealing new book, Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea. It's a vivid, detailed account of the destruction Sherman's army spread across Georgia following the burning of Atlanta in 1864. Told through the intimate letters and diaries of Sherman's soldiers and the civilians who suffered in his path, it's a memorable account of an event that changed the course of the nation. (Free; doors open 6:30 p.m.; no tickets or reservations required)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA

Saturday, August 9, 2008

2 p.m., Decatur Library

Gupta, the popular, award-winning senior medical correspondent for CNN and an Emory University neurosurgeon, offers an inside view of the latest research into good health and longevity in his new book, Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today.

MARK BAUERLEIN

Thursday, August 7, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Bauerlein, professor of English at Emory University and former Director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts, discusses his "uncompromisingly realistic" and highly critical portrait of the under-30 generation, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.

DELIA CHAMPION

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Champion, the adventuresome, acclaimed chef for Atlanta's fabulous Flying Biscuit Cafe, talks about eating and preparing delicious food in her new book, The Flying Biscuit Café Cookbook. You’ll hear about some wonderful recipes and even get a chance to sample some of the chef's work.

TINA MCELROY ANSA

Monday, August 4, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Ansa's eagerly-awaited sequel to Ugly Ways, the wonderful comic novel Taking After Mudear, is just out and already one of the new list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read." Ansa, who lives on St. Simons Island, is one of Georgia's most popular authors and winner of the Lindberg Award; her books includes the bestsellers Baby of the Family and The Hand I Fan With.

CARMEN DEEDY/JOHN MCCUTCHEON

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Children's author and storyteller Deedy (The Library Dragon, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach) and acclaimed folksinger McCutcheon join for a one-night special performance to benefit the building of a library in a small Mexican community. Co-sponsored by Mingei World Arts of Decatur and featuring food and special for-sale items from Mexico. Free, but donations accepted. (Doors open 6:30)

EOIN COLFER

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

4 p.m., Decatur Library

Colfer, the delightful superstar creator of the bestselling Artemis Fowl adventure series for young adults, delivers a hilarious one-man show, "Fairies, Fiends, and Flatulence." He'll follow that with a signing for the latest Artemis Fowl book, The Time Paradox. (Sponsored by Decatur's Little Shop of Stories; books will be for sale at the signing.)

RICHARD DOSTER

Monday, July 28, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Doster's new book, Safe at Home, is a lively, engaging blend of baseball, history and Southern fiction. The Mississippi-born author, now living in Atlanta, writes a touching, amusing story about minor league baseball in the slowly desegregating South of the 1950s. It's all about learning to get along, and Doster's graceful style makes it an enjoyable lesson.

STEPHEN L. CARTER

Monday, July 21, 2008

7 p.m., Jimmy Carter Library

The New York Times' bestselling author (The Emperor of Ocean Park, New England White) returns with an electrifying new political thriller, Palace Council. It's about murder, suicide and the disappearance of a rising young writer, all set in the turbulent era of the 1950s and 60s. Carter is professor law at Yale University and author of several nonfiction books including The Culture of Disbelief

BRET LOTT

Thursday, July 17, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Lott, whose novel Jewel was an Oprah Book Club selection, discusses his inspiring new novel, Ancient Highway. It's a powerful multi-generational story of a single family and the home, relationships and dreams that keep them together. He is the author of more than a dozen books and a former editor of Southern Review.

MIGNON FOGARTY (AKA GRAMMAR GIRL)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Fogarty is determined to wipe out bad grammar as painlessly and cleverly as possible. Her new book, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, is a practical but fun and simple resource guide intended for everyday use by everyone. Don’t miss her talk; audiences say she's "like the sixth grade teacher you wish you had."

JAMES C. COBB

Monday, July 14, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Cobb, the prize-winning Spaulding Distinguished Professor of History at UGA, and former president of the Southern Historical Association, talks about his new book, Georgia Odyssey. It's a lively, candid, provocative and thoroughly entertaining look at the surprising history of the Peach State by its best-known historian.

THOMAS LAIRD & ROBERT THURMAN

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

7 p.m., Jimmy Carter Library

Two noted authors and journalists discuss the Dalai Lama and the perilous state of Tibet in this special program co-sponsored with the Carter Library. Laird is author of The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, and Thurman has written Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World.

FLANNERY O'CONNOR'S GEORGIA

Monday, June 23, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

Author Sarah Gordon, photographer Marcelina Martin and Craig Amason, director of O'Connor's Andalusia Farm, join us to discuss their gorgeous new book, A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia. The book is a sumptuous treat for the mind and the eyes, using beautiful photos and authoritative text to place and her work with the sites most associated with the author in her home state.

J.L. MILES

Thursday, June 19, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

The popular Georgia author (Roseflower Creek, Cold Rock River) returns with a delightful and funny new novel, Divorcing Dwayne. It's the first of a planned trilogy of books set in rural Georgia and focusing on the not-so-smooth marriage of Francine Harper and her troublesome hubby Dwayne.

KASEY PIPES

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

7 p.m., Jimmy Carter Library

The author, a former speechwriter for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, writes about one of the most controversial decisions in the Eisenhower administration: sending troops to Little Rock to enforce desegregation orders. His new book, Ike's Last Battle: The Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality, will be an eye-opener for all who care about the nation's troubled racial history.

LISE FUNDERBURG

Monday, June 16, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

The author's new book, Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home, is a powerful story of race, family and reconciliation. Funderburg is a white-appearing, mixed-race woman whose memoir recounts a poignant reunion with a dying father in the South about whom she knows little.

JEFFERY DEAVER

Thursday, June 12, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

One of the masters of the modern suspense novel visits to talk about his latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller, The Broken Window. Deavers's books have sold millions of copies and been turned into successful movies including The Bone Collector and A Maiden's Grave.

MIKE GLENN

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

The former NBA star for the Hawks and Knicks presents a special evening focusing on the life and work of Frederick Douglass based on his extensive collection and his new book, Frederick Douglass: The Founding Father of Slavery Free America. Participating in the program will be educator and storyteller Sister Yomi with a live dramatization of a letter from Douglass to Harriet Tubman.

MARLENA DE BLASI

Monday, June 9, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

The author of the bestselling books A Thousand Days in Tuscany and The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria, writes another lovely adventure book, That Summer in Sicily. It's the engaging story of a castle the author discovered while traveling in Sicily and the remarkable people whose lives have been intertwined with its history.

RICHARD ENGEL

Thursday, June 5, 2008

7 p.m., Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

NBC News' prize-winning Baghdad correspondent makes a special visit to discuss his important new book, War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq. Don't miss this unvarnished, behind-the-scenes look at the war-torn Iraqi nation and the impact of the U.S. intervention and occupation.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

7 p.m., Cole Fine Arts Auditorium

The hard-hitting of Fight Club, discusses his outrageous new novel, Snuff. Doors open at 6 p.m. First-come, first-seated, no tickets or reservations. All books for sale at the event will be pre-signed. The first 150 people to purchase a copy of Snuff at the event will be given a ticket to have their book personalized by the author. He also will personalize two backlist titles for those 150 ticketholders. No memorabilia or additional backlist titles will be signed.

LEIF ENGER

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

The author of the New York Times' bestseller Peace Like a River returns with his second novel, So Brave, So Young and Handsome. It's a gritty early 20th century western about an outlaw's efforts to right his past, told with the easy style of a folk ballad by a master storyteller. Doors open 6:15 p.m.

ELISABETH PAYNE ROSEN

Monday, June 2, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library

In her acclaimed debut novel Hallam's War, Rosen tells a powerful, profound story about the home front during the Civil War. Early readers say the book's lively story and Deep South setting "ought to draw Miss Scarlett’s fans like flies to honey."

ELIZABETH BERG

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

The acclaimed author of more than a dozen novels including Range of Motion and Joy School talks about her exciting new story collection, The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Other Small Acts of Liberation. These are exhilarating short stories of women breaking free from convention as they navigate through the emotional landmines of relationships. Free. No tickets. Books will be for sale and signing. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

ALISON WEIR

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

The distinguished English historical biographer makes a rare appearance to discuss her fascinating new novel about a remarkable queen, The Lady Elizabeth. It's an unforgettable, sweeping exploration of the bloody conflicts between family, religion and conscience by the author of such bestsellers as The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Wars of the Roses. Free. No tickets. Books will be for sale and signing. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

ELISE BLACKWELL

Thursday, May 22, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

The acclaimed young author beguiles us with a powerful, moving new novel, Hunger, a story set during Hitler's siege of Leningrad as a brilliant scientist confronts his own mortality. The author of The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish and Grub, Blackwell writes with eloquence about the possibilities of the human spirit. Don't miss the free book giveaway this evening, too!

MIKE FARRELL

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

7:15 p.m., Decatur Library Auditorium

The delightful actor who played the role of B.J. Hunnicutt on TV's popular series M*A*S*H visits to talk about his new book, Just Call Me Mike. The book traces his path from a struggling Hollywood actor to a growing and serious commitment to social and political activism. Doors for this event open at 6 p.m., first-come, first-seated, no reservations

BARBARA WALTERS

Monday, May 19, 2008

7 p.m., Presser Hall, Agnes Scott College

Don't miss this special event with the First Lady of American television journalism. She will appear on-stage for a discussion about her life and work with Jovita Moore, co-anchor for WSB-TV News. You'll have an opportunity to ask questions of Ms. Walters and to purchase a signed copy of her just-released memoir, Audition. Please note: doors open at 6 p.m., seating is first-come, first-seated, no reservations

AJC DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL

Wednesday, December 31, 1969

All Weekend, Locations Around Decatur

The fabulous AJC Decatur Book Festival