Fans of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor move fast.
Minutes after tickets to an upcoming appearance in Decatur became available, every ticket was gone.
Justice Sotomayor will visit the AJC Decatur Book Festival Sept. 1 to discuss her children's book, "Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You." There is no charge for tickets, but visitors were required to order them ahead of time.
They must have been lined up, ready and waiting. Tickets went on offer at 10 a.m. Tuesday and were gone by 10:08 a.m.
Kitty Brooks, a retired librarian in Buford, bookmarked the Eventbrite page ahead of time, so she could order tickets, but was a few minutes late logging in. Then at 10:08 an art teacher friend called to say: “You’re not going to believe this: The tickets are sold out.”
Said Brooks, “I was asleep at the switch.” She was impressed with the book and its theme of inclusion. “What a message for our time now,” she said. “This is a book I would have purchased for my library.”
Sotomayor, the first Latina ever to serve as an Associate Supreme Court Justice, will speak at 4 p.m., Sept. 1, in Gaines Chapel, Presser Hall at Agnes Scott College. Gaines Chapel has a capacity of 800 seats.
Joy Pope, program director of the book festival, said there was no larger hall available and that there was little chance of a change of venue so close to the festival’s opening day.
“Just Ask!” is a book about children with differing abilities working together to plant a garden. When she was a child Sotomayor was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, and was required to give herself insulin injections each day. Her condition made her feel different from other children, but she learned that differences can be strengths.
In her book, illustrated by Rafael López, she encourages readers to “just ask” when they encounter someone who seems different.
For more information about the festival go to the AJC Decatur Book Fest website.
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