The Decatur Book Festival and SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) recently announced (ok, it was on Sept. 27th) that starting next year, all book sales at the festival will be handled by independent booksellers. Additionally, SIBA’s five annual book awards (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s, and cooking) will be presented at the festival.

As the press release points out, the festival was already heading in an independent direction prior to this agreement, so the partnership was a natural one for both parties. Also Decatur’s central location in the South seems to have been a major selling point.

Hat tip: The Bookstore Tourism Blog

Photo courtesy of MyFoxAtlanta

I’m a little behind the 8-ball on this one, but fellow bloggers over at Decatur CD point out that they’ve been rated as the top music store in Atlanta by voters on the MyFoxAtlanta Hotlist.

A few other Decatur establishments also took the top spots in their respective catagories…

Best Beer Selection: Brick Store Pub

Best Sandwich: 5th Earl Market (Creative Loafing review)

Best Live Music: Eddie’s Attic

Best Bookstore: Wordsmith’s

Best Coffee Shop: Choco-Latte

Let me know if I missed any…the list page is kinda overwhelming.

Many other Decatur standards ranked in the top 5. See the complete list for details!

In Decatur has a report and opinion from the school info session on Decatur’s application for charter school status.

A couple comments on the opinion follow the break…

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