This week’s Bookshelf is about the return of the Decatur Book Festival; Howell Raines’ new book about the Civil War’s best-kept secret; a peek at who’s presenting at the Red Clay Writers Conference; and Charles Frazier’s upcoming appearance in Roswell.
DBF Returns: When Decatur Book Festival (DBF) board member Leslie Wingate decided to retire from her job at Emory Libraries, she fully intended to continue working — but doing what, she wasn’t sure. So, for the first time in her life, at her daughter’s encouragement, she went to see a medium. As they were wrapping up their session, the psychic casually mentioned that she saw a festival in Wingate’s future.
“I said, ‘Huh. I’m on the board of one, but to be honest, we don’t have the funding right now to hire anyone, so I don’t think that’s the right thing for me,” Wingate recalled.
Then, just two weeks later, two unexpected funding sources stepped up, offering significant contributions to the festival. And just like that, after taking a hiatus in 2023, the Decatur Book Festival was back on, and Wingate was hired as its executive director.
“It was providential,” she said. “It felt like it was really meant to be.”
Wingate is waiting until contracts are buttoned up before revealing the festival’s new benefactors. Meanwhile, she’s hired Denise Auger, who works in programming for the Gwinnett County Public Library, as part-time program director.
The festival will be held Oct. 4-5, featuring a keynote speech on Friday and day-long author events on Saturday. Programming will be held at First Baptist Church of Decatur, and Wingate is in talks with Decatur Library and the Marriott about holding events there as well. She’s lined up five booksellers to manage book sales, and she’s enlisted the aid of Diane Capriola to help program the youth stages.
Capriola, co-owner of Little Shop of Stories bookstore, is also presenting the Decatur Children’s Book Festival May 3-5 in conjunction with the Decatur Arts Festival.
Wingate said everyone she’s contacted about helping her with the festival has been eager to support the event.
“What I’m learning,” she said, “is that the Decatur Book Festival is just one of those beloved institutions that people really missed when it was gone, and everybody is so excited to have it back.”
For details, go to decaturbookfestival.com.
Credit: Penguin Random House
Credit: Penguin Random House
History restored. Drawing from his own family history, as well as scholarly research, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Howell Raines has uncovered a well-kept secret about the Civil War: An Alabama regiment of 2,000-plus former slaves and white farmers — including a relative of Raines’ — aided Sherman in the torching of Atlanta, helping seal the Confederacy’s defeat. Raines details the men’s heroic story in his new book, “Silent Calvary” (Penguin Random House, $36), and he also tells how their contribution to the war’s end was deliberately erased from the history books.
Raines, the former executive editor of The New York Times, will discuss his book at the Atlanta History Center on April 14. For details go to atlantahistorycenter.com.
Credit: Courtesy of Vanessa Riley
Credit: Courtesy of Vanessa Riley
Learn from a pro: The Georgia Writers Association brings a stellar lineup of authors to Kennesaw State University April 20 for the Red Clay Writers Conference. Middle grade writer Chantel Acevedo is the keynote speaker. Other participating authors include Vanessa Riley, Jonathan French, Kimberly Brock, Tony Grooms, Wanda Morris, Robert Gwaltney Jr., Regina Bradley and Megan Volpert, among others.
Sessions will be held on a variety of topics, including screenwriting, video game writing, poetry, publishing, romance writing and more. For details go to redclayconference.org.
Credit: Mallory Cash
Credit: Mallory Cash
Roswell Reads: Presented by the City of Roswell and Bookmiser, Roswell Reads presents Charles Frazier in person April 7 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. The National Book Award winner for “Cold Mountain” will talk about his latest book, “The Trackers,” a Depression-era novel about a love triangle involving an artist, an art collector and his beautiful wife. GSU professor Gina Caison will moderate. For details, go to roswellcac.showare.com.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
