Decatur Book Festival Open Thread
Decatur Metro | September 3, 2011
Come one, come all! Enjoy yon book festival and then come here and tell your tales of greatness and woe. Ate too much funnel cake? Attacked by Bookzilla? (or Daren Wang?) This open thread is yours to share your experiences with other literati!
Also, if anyone wants to write a book/event review, email it to me and I’ll post ‘em. We’ve had some good ones in the past followed by most some interesting discussions. Let hear it!
Photo above courtesy of DTR
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I was really disappointed by the book festival today. It seemed that every other stall was some kind of new agey self help stuff or selling home improvement services. WTF. Worst of all no McSweeny’s!
I, too, was disappointed that McSweeney’s was unable to attend this year. We were in (email) conversation with them about it early in the summer; they were hoping to come but had some staffing issues which prevented them. They will certainly be invited again for 2012.
I was at 826 Valencia in June and the McSweeney’s folks there were looking forward to participating. It would have been great to get the authors of Mission Street Food to appear.
Since few are interested in saying anything, here are some links that other blogger-types posted on today’s events…
Next Stop…Decatur: Decatur Book Festival 2011
Decatur CD: Exclusive Colin Meloy Photos
ArtsCriticATL: Decatur Book Fest overview: Meet us at Booth 309C, near the new courthouse, when you visit
InDecatur: Line at Little Shop of Stories at #DBF in #DecaturGA
Me too! I went looking specifically for McSweeney’s and was so bummed they weren’t there….
They promised to come next year… They should get Dave Eggers to speak!!!
Many of the author venues were filled to capacity and folks were turned away.
That only happened once to me this year–it;’s happened more other years, again perhaps because of poorer planning and trying to hit everything instead of being picky and getting to things early. I was even on time this year for The Speckled Bird and it was full. Lots of gray-bearded long-haired guys with tie-dye shirts were disappointed too. But the Speckled Bird exhibit was right there at the Courthouse so there was a good alternative for those turned away. Fascinating exhibit. Teens and college students are comparatively dull now.
Pics from Decatur Patch:
http://decatur.patch.com/articles/day-one-scenes-from-the-book-festival
Search twitter on #ajcdbf and you see it all.
Don’t be disappointed DM. Perhaps your usual suspects were too busy at the festival.
That Square was danged hot yesterday.
Perhaps it has something to do with the readings that I checked in to (including the keynote Friday), but it really looks like the Decatur Caucasian Book Festival. I wonder if this should concern the organizers.
We saw some token black and Asian people today. The fact they stood out speaks volumes about how white it was.
“We saw some token black and Asian people today.”
What’s your deal? I’m guessing that you thought you were being clever, but… nope.
For whatever it’s worth, I experienced some of both Dragoncon and the book festival, and in my observation the latter was far more racially diverse. The crowd at Java Monkey last night was as about as diverse as you are likely to find for any event in metro Atlanta.
No community crossword puzzles! Cmon, AJC, those were great advertising and a lot of fun.
The community crossword’s the very first thing I went looking for! So much fun last year! I loved participating and seeing all the other enthusiastic crossworders it attracted!
I like the community crosswords, too! I’ll let our sponsor know that they were missed.
Did someone say Decatur Metro community crosswords??
The Importance of the Green Book, Burial for a King and Tiger in the Kitchen were all great presentations and attended by plenty of non Caucasians. I know the festival had other offerings appealing to different demographics as well. I think the DBF organizers are certainly making and effort to draw in a broad cross section of the community.
I really enjoyed the weekend and appreciate all of their hard work.
Also the presentations on “Red Summer” and “The Indignant Generation”. I think it depended on which sessions you selected to attend.
The Green Book presentation was wonderful, and the auditorium was nearly packed.
I admittedly did not attend many events of particular interest to people of color. I noted that the panel for “The 21st Century South” at Eddie’s Attic, which focused largely on race, was made up of middle aged white men and was attended by an overwhelmingly white crowd. I stuck my head into the “Struggles for Freedom” panel about slavery and was surprised by how white the audience was.
Take a look at the keynote speakers that the festival has had since Year 1:
Charles Frazier
Billy Collins
Kinky Friedman
Sir Harold Evans
Jonathan Franzen
Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis
White males all with the exception of Ms. Ellis, and quite frankly, as delightful as she was, the star power there was her husband.
I think that the programming reaches out for diversity, but I feel the board should consider looking at some marketing approach that would promote diversity in attendance.
I love this event, and it is one of the high points of the year for me.
I think if you check, Mr. Fats, you’ll recall that Arianna Huffington was the first year keynote speaker.
My bad. I forgot this was 7 and not 6. Still, it’s only one woman and no authors of color. Just sayin’.
Incognito – super fun, especially since the topic was neuroscience. Eagleman had such clever analogies that the layman was not left behind. Also shout out to CT Douglas and his Lore trilogy who I discovered at last year’s festival. This college student who self-published his first teen fantasy (which my son thoroughly enjoyed last year), has his second book out and a third coming in Nov.
I enjoyed Eagleman’s presentation too. Wished there had been more time for questions because it seemed there were a lot of smart people in the audience based on the few questions that were asked.
The children’s stage was awesome as always. I am amazed by the wonderful authors they get for the children’s stage. My kids had so much fun and I think it is so great for them to meet all of those authors they’ve long admired…it makes the wonderment of writing and publishing an awesome book something they can grasp–they see it as a dream that’s not out of reach.
Just got home from closing out the festival at Java Monkey with Java Monkey Speaks and Natasha Trethewey. What a treat to have a Pulitzer Prize winning poet reading at one of my very favorite places in Decatur. Probably the highlight of the festival for me.
I liked every single thing I attended. Now, I am a bit pickier than the first year I attended because I do a better job of researching before I go to a session. I loved Caroline Herring doing The Little House songs and the fun, fun, fun Write Club but also liked Blood Work, You won’t feel this a bit, The Green Book, Red Summer, Community Read. Didn’t even plan to see Backseat Saints but ended up there by mistake and really enjoyed it.
Forgot that I also loved the Blue Angel presentation by Matt something or other, a DHS alum. Also fascinating, the tunnels of Las Vegas and those who live in them.
Matt O’Brien, a Winnona Park boy. He was very interesting, and his books are as well.
We enjoyed Libba Bray at the teen stage, she described her book using Mad Libs. Hilarious. We also enjoyed several of the authors at the children’s stage, especially Adam Gidwitz. He was so energetic and funny. We ended Saturday listening to Louise Penny (a great mystery writer) and another writer at the Dec. Pres. stage. They were also quite entertaining and witty.
My family and I had a great day on Saturday.
Offspring liked Gidwitz too.
Thanks for coming to WRITE CLUB, Karass! Glad you enjoyed it. Our next show’s at PushPush on Sept. 14th at 9pm. Come on out and remember the first rule…
…..tell 5-7 people about it!
Thank you to all the folks involved in the fantastic Decatur Book Festival! My favs from Sunday:
Americapedia!
(Andisheh Nouraee)
Andisheh was AWESOME!!! (And cuuuuuuute! :0) Super enjoyable presentation to a full room + overflow! He even gave us a hint on how to solve the problems! This book will definitely be on the gift giving list! :0)
Creating the Magic: Kids’ Author-Illustrators Discuss Their Craft
(Judy Sierra, Andy Rutton, and Susan Stockdale)
My favorite thing about DBF is experiencing each writer’s joy for what they do. Very cool to hear this panel’s three different takes– so much genuine devotion goes into each book! Can’t wait to hit the kids’ section of the library!
Southern Family Drama
(Patricia Sprinkle and Anna Jean Mayhew)
Really enjoyed this session with two authors I’ve not yet read. ( Dana Barrett, the moderator, also deserves props!) It was very interesting hearing how they shape their characters, how religion and race are underpinnings, and how meticulous they are in getting historical details accurate. (Patricia Sprinkle commented that there’s one GA author who made such a glaring error that she refuses to even read her again! No, she didn’t name her!) Looking forward to reading “The Dry Grass of August,” Anna Jean Mayhew’s debut book at 71 years young!
From the Briar Patch to the Big Stage:Adapting Brer Rabbit for Opera
(Madeleine St. Romain, Nicole Chamberlain, Park Colfield, and Lain Shakespeare)
.. Still trying to process this one, and I’m wondering what other folks thought about it… For me, it was like this very special gift I was so eagerly anticipating got snatched away and stomped flat. Why on earth would you commission an opera to be based on Brer Rabbit, only to end up with something that doesn’t tell the Uncle Remus tales or include the other key characters?!? Rabbit Tales has fantastic potential to hook little kids on musical theatre; however, it’s gonna break the heart of every grown up who’s expecting a faithful adaptation. I sure hope they’ll at least reconsider how they market it because Brer Rabbit’s merely one of four animals drawn from folk tales from around the world.
[ My granddaddy had such a unique gift for spinning the tales of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear... I hated it when the negative connotations the stories held for other folks diminished those cherished memories for me. When I heard about the opera, I had high hopes that Joel Chandler Harris' creations were going to come to life in such a way that we'd all be able to enjoy the tales together. It was astounding to hear that JCH's writing was pretty much tossed aside by an adapter who said she wanted to put her own spin on things. Other folks may view it entirely differently, but to me, frankly, it's ego stroking at the great expense of iconic folklore characters. I'm ticked off and sad to have lost Brer Rabbit and friends yet again. The first time, I understood it. This time, I don't get it at all.]
Really, there were so many great sessions. I attended an awesome poetry reading by
Franklin Abbott and Sharon Sanders (both local.)
Also, there was an interesting session I attended by mistake with writings about Ireland and Scotland.
great poetry reading by local poets at the Java Monkey.
The presentation by Janisse Ray (S Georgia writer with a new book out) was packed, and all attention was riveted on the author.
If you only saw the more commercial booths, you missed lots of local authors who has self published, exhibits by university presses and libraries, many local booksellers, as well as the Lobster rolls! on the square.
Enjoyed the lobster roll–the novelty, not the price! And there’s was fresh lemonade stand that I frequented three times!
Overall, I thought the DBF just OK but was a total snoozer for the kiddies. Some good talk for adults, but their whole kid angle needs a revamp or they need to make it for adults only and not attempt the kid thing. Pete the Cat parade without a Pete the Cat (little kids want a Pete the Cat in a costume!)? Strollers invited into the stage area so no one could get in? Few to no booths that had anything to do with kids? (facepainting? kids authors? clowns? ballooons ANYTHING?) It was just a see of white tents for my own little kids who are usually very excited about stuff like this and don’t need bright shiny things with noise to keep them busy. I don’t know, kind of a letdown. We even went both days and, nope, nothing. Except for SkippyJohn Jones, our memories are sadly of some good corn dogs and the King of Pops.
We’ve learned to be very focused about attending the childrens authors’ presentations rather than treating the Festival like a continuous event. As much as my children have loved the idea of the Festival, love certain authors, and enjoyed their school’s author events, their stamina at previous Festivals as been distressingly low. The beastly hot weather of some previous Festivals didn’t help. So we only hit the few events the kids are truly psyched about ahead of time and then hand off child care so hubby and I can see adult events on our own. I’m the one who compulsively goes from one activity to another, grimly marching across Decatur to make sure I’m not wasting a single second of my allotted free time.
I wonder if an indoor venue would be better for the kids–less ambient noise, distractions, heat and humidity. It would make it harder on the parents to be more separated from the rest of the festival but it might create a more child-friendly ambience. But either way, I think we have to accept that getting the kids psyched about books and the concept of the Festival might be more important than how many presentations they attend.
This is a great way to approach the festival and I thank you for the advice!
I was interested to see what the effect the doom of the paper book would be on the Book Fair, but it seemed like maybe everyone was pretending like nothing is happening.
My family had a great time, and as usual, big efforts were made to both entertain and edify our children. The storytellers were awesome–I chaperoned my older daughter’s class on Friday, and the storyteller was so compelling, folks in their workday suits stopped to listen and within a few seconds, they were pantomiming along with the kiddies.
There was a good variety of genres, good deals on books, and the whole thing was clean and well-organized. As a non-white person who is keenly aware of racism, I did not perceive any undertones of racism in any aspect of the fair. Of course there will be more white attendee–this is Decatur. And if there were more whites than others in the tents… I would say that there was a greater percentage of authors of color than there are represented in any mainstream book store. It’s the publishers and the buying public who determine what books will sell, and as digital books allow writers to bypass publishing companies, we will see an increase in the diversity of successful and popular writers.
I don’t think anyone has noted any undertones of racism; I certainly didn’t. The comments have been about the diversity of the crowd. And the festival isn’t just about Decatur, it’s about Atlanta. As I’ve noted above, I think the organizers should consider some new marketing approaches to promote diversity in the crowd.
My favorites, all of whom were amusing as well as interesting:
Linda Pastan, poetry — confident, accessible, engaging. Reminded me of Stephen Dunn.
Amanda Kyle Williams and Louise Penny, murder mystery — the two of them together were hilarious. They clearly loved each others’ work and just seemed to have a blast up there.
Clyde Edgerton, jokes, fiction, music — a true showman.
David Eagleman, neuroscience — energetic, illuminating and accessible.
Apparently I was at a different book festival. There was a facepainting booth in the children’s area and balloon artist (who is married to the facepainter BTW) nearby on the lawn near the community hoola hoops that got a lot of use by kids and adults and provided great entertainment. I also enjoyed watching several African American storytellers on the old courthouse steps that drew big groups of kids/families. I also enjoyed seeing sets of couples, of different races, who were obviously friends attending the festival together. I also enjoyed the Sunday morning parade that had a very diverse make-up of families. I saw African American families, multi-racial families, Indian families, Jewish families, same-sex parent families and what I believed to be Muslim families based on clothing and head coverings. It’s interesting to me how differently we all see things. I also observed numerous non-white families sitting on the lawn and even in Chick-fil-A reading aloud from the books they had gotten at the festival. I remember watching the parade and crowd and smiling to myself as I thought how great it was to see so much diversity. I am always aware of such things because I am part of a large chosen extended family of Caribbean Americans with a very diverse circle of friends and when we socialize in public or travel together or a child of one color calls out “Mom”, “Dad”, “Auntie” or “Uncle” to an adult of another color as we are often stared at or even questioned about the relationship/dynamic we have. We have jokingly talked about petitioning the government to establish our own race of people, those who truly do cherish diversity and live it rather than talk about how they work with or went to school with someone different. I think we shall someday write a book about our “family” and make an appearance at the Decatur Book Festival!
Sheep Dog, I was at the same festival. My kids got the token facepaint (that they had to pay for themselves, which made them opt for the $5 designs over the $10 designs). They forewent the balloons since Daddy knows how to do balloon animals now. They were most excited about listening to authors talk about writing their books, and then meeting those authors. They spent the rest of the weekend reading feverishly, having met the authors and feeling some kind of connection with them. I guess they understand it’s not a carnival, it’s a book festival, so they are there for the books and the excitement of reading. And the overpriced corn dogs.
+1…and hearted!
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Children’s Stage this weekend. We were so excited about this year’s lineup, including the great addition of non-author type programming like Caroline Herring and the Story Pirates. Of course, the highlight of our weekend is always to see how excited kids get to meet beloved authors and illustrators. For Little Shop of Stories, this festival is all about encouraging a life-long love of reading and books in even the youngest children.
Admittedly, the Sunday event with Eric Litwin and James Dean, co-creators of the Pete the Cat picture books, was bigger than we ever expected it would be. Thanks to everyone for keeping their cool about it- Pete would be proud of you! And yes, we wish there was a Pete the Cat in costume there too! However, a costume does not exist. We keep telling the publisher to create one but perhaps they need to hear from all of you!
Thanks again for supporting your community and a special shout out to parents who helped chaperone the Friday field trips. We look forward to next year!
And here’s our not so shameless plug for all of you to get On the Same Page! Check out http://www.littleshopofstories.com/same-page.php for more information about our community wide reading initiative.
Went to five presentations on Saturday (since I had to miss Sunday because of an out of town committment) and all five of them were enjoyable:
James Swanson
Robert Olen Butler
author of Swamplandia (forgot her name and don’t have my program with me)
Tom Perrotta
Janise Ray
Keep up the good work.
Karen Russell is the author of Swamplandia. How about Janisse Ray’s “book launch”!
I am a librarian, and know it’s not a carnival, but thanks for your comment. I think it was just too crowded with parents who think they are so special that everyone needs to go around them and their strollers blocking every entry and exit to EVERYTHING child-friendly including the sidewalks in front of some guy doing something creative we couldn’t even see. My kids were so frustrated with not being able to GET anywhere that we resorted to overpriced corn dogs and pops because we had nothing else to do for them. We had a stroller but we parked it and took our kids out and walked up to the stages and booths and couldn’t get into anything because of the stroller bottlenecks everywhere (and yes, we were early for all of it). I have kids yet dislike LOTS of parents who think they are special because they have kids. No one cares about how happy or how much fun your kids are having, stop blocking everything. Sorry DBF, I should take back what I said earlier as it was misguided and simply ask for a stroller ban next year. We are lucky to have you.
Hi Library Mom, thanks for your comments. Any suggestions on how better to handle the stroller situation? People use them, we need to accomodate them; at the same time the booth spaces near the children’s stage are rented for a price that helps to pay for a free festival. I’m sincerely interested in your opinion. How far from the stage do you think parents are willing to park their strollers and carry or walk their children? Do you think a distant stroller corral needs to be staffed or could it operate on an honor system? Where did you park your own stroller? Please post, or contact me directly at . Thanks.
I don’t live here, and came to town just for the festival which is I think why we were just so bummed. I appreciate your concern.
We left our stroller at the bottom of the stairs going up to the Children’s stage area. My husband went back and stood with the stroller while the kids and I tried to get in to see the Pete the Cat performance.
I think it would be nice to have a stroller parking area for the childrens stage area (even just at the bottom of the stairs in that turnaround or closer to the MARTA plaza so it’s not a far walk) as well as Little Shop or places that involve people actually going inside or assembling in a more structured audience area. Maybe have a volunteer in a roped off area to take the strollers while people see the events–or something like an honor system stroller check. It would need to be staffed with just one person I think. They did this at the aquarium (staffed) when we visited for places that strollers would not work well and it was great. I think close to the main childrens stage area and Little shop are the place it matters most and keep them out of the parade which was really a tough go, especially with little kids walking everywhere and tripping over stroller wheels.
Can’t take on stroller etiquette though=) Some people are just destined to always stand around blocking the sidewalk and I have to learn to live with that I suppose…