At a press conference this morning, the Decatur Book Festival announced details of its 2008 festival, which as you can see from above will take place August 29th-31st. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the PR event, but Lenz Marketing’s Ryan Klee was good enough to send along all the details.

This year’s keynote speaker will be U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. And if that weren’t enough…

“Notable participants this year include John Dean, former White House Counsel to Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal; Jed Horne, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the New Orleans Times-Picayune; Oprah Book Club author Pearl Cleage; John Bemelmans Marciano, author of the first new “Madeline” book in 50 years, and grandson of the original series author; and Sara Shepard, author of the “Pretty Little Liars” series.”

Personally I was excited to see poet Coleman Barks on the invite list. To find your favorites checkout the full list of 225 author’s on the festival’s newly launched ’08 website here.

New this year will be a “Big Read” event where everyone is encouraged to read “The Great Gatsby” and then discuss. But what fun is having everyone read about Gatsby, Daisy and Nick without recreating a small piece of East Egg? Luckily, the DBF’s got this covered too. This year’s event will have a “flapper-themed” kick-off party “complete with period-appropriate libations and dancers doing the Charleston”. I wonder if that’s invitation-only.

Also, as previously announced (and posted), this will be the first year that the DBF will host the annual Southern Independent Booksellers Association Awards.

Additionally there will be new teen-oriented programming under the title of “The Escape”, a Harry Potter quiz, and a “better and gooder” writer’s conference at Agnes Scott.

Sounds like another jam-packed year of events! Decatur’s newest festival is quickly becoming one of year’s most-anticipated events (at least to me!)