The Decatur Book Festival announces…

Famed American literary icon Joyce Carol Oates will deliver the keynote address at the 2014 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (AJC DBF) Aug. 29 – 31.

Oates will kick off the ninth annual festival on Friday, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m. at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University. She will be joined onstage by her biographer and Atlanta resident, Dr. Greg Johnson.

The event will mark the launch of her new short story collection, Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories. The new collection has been described as “insightful, disturbing, and breathtaking in its lyrical precision,” and is said to display Oates’ “magnificent ability to make visceral the terror, hurt, and uncertainty that lurks at the edges of ordinary lives.”

Best known for her fiction, Oates’ novels include Blonde, a bold reimagining of the inner life of Marilyn Monroe, and We Were the Mulvaneys, which follows the disintegration of an American family in the late 20th Century.

Since 1963, 40 of Oates’ works have been included in the New York Times annual list of notable books. Among her many honors are two O. Henry Prizes, two Bram Stoker Awards, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Book Critics Circle, the Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the PEN Center USA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and The Poets & Writers Distinguished Lifetime Award. In 2010, reflecting the widespread esteem in which her work is held, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.

AJC DBF Executive Director Daren Wang said he is honored to have Joyce Carol Oates as the keynote speaker for this year’s event.

“There are few authors — very, very few — that rise to Joyce Carol Oates’ level of accomplishment. She has created 40 novels, many of them good enough to base an entire career upon, and countless stories, essays, and poems. Instead of listing the major awards she has won, it is much easier to list the one or two she unjustly has not,” asserts Wang. “She does us all a great honor by coming to the Decatur Book Festival, but for me, having grown up less than 20 miles from her hometown of Millersport, NY, her keynoting the festival feels like an odd but wonderful kind of homecoming.”

Following the keynote at Emory on Friday, the AJC DBF will kick off Saturday, Aug. 30 with a children’s parade on the Decatur Square. Events and author presentations will continue in downtown Decatur throughout the weekend. A second children’s parade will start Sunday’s festivities, followed by another full day of author talks and events suited for all ages and interests.

AJC DBF Program Director Philip Rafshoon said he’s especially proud of the distinct, eclectic lineup at this year’s festival.

“Our lineup this year shows DBF’s commitment to showcasing the widest variety of authors and subjects possible. With strong support from publishers and our community, we are, once again, able to provide the region with an unbelievable array of today’s top writers and talent,” said Rafshoon. “I’m extremely proud of our diverse lineup and glad to know that there is going to be something for everyone at this year’s festival.”

Author highlights for the 2014 AJC DBF include:

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Clairemont Ave, Decatur GA

We report on an Atlanta Magazine report on a new report released by Smart Growth America …

It often seems that every week brings a new report underscoring metro Atlanta’s woeful sprawl and its host of associated ills. Well, here’s a bit of better news. A report to be released today ranks the growth of walkable areas in the country’s 30 largest areas, and here’s the stunner: Atlanta comes in eighth place. And that’s not all. Our region is ranked No. 5 for future walkability, indicating a demand for denser development and redevelopment both intown and in the suburbs.

…In Atlanta, for example, 50 percent of the hotel, retail, office, and apartment space developed between 2009 and 2013 was in walkable areas, whether intown redevelopment or infill construction adjacent to the Atlanta BeltLine or newer developments such as Atlantic Station. “Despite its sprawling history, the strength of Atlanta’s walkable urban places, relative to its peers, appears to be real,” write the researchers. “This real estate cycle, starting in 2009, represents a major shift for Atlanta.” Mushrooming apartments along the BeltLine and suburban projects like Avalon, the wired and walkable development coming to Alpharetta, contribute to our projected surge in walkability.

Atlanta ranks behind Portland and ahead of Pittsburgh in the current large cities walkability list.  What’s really sorta shocking is the future Top 10 list…

Projected Future Rankings for Walkable Urbanism 
1. Boston 
2. Washington D.C. 
3. New York 
4. Miami 
5. Atlanta 
6. Seattle 
7. San Francisco 
8. Detroit 
9. Denver 
10. Tampa

Token pic of the Beltline courtesy of FunkBrothers via Flickr

Large, medium, small.  What are your favorite U.S. cities?  (We can follow up with a “Favorite International Cities” post next week)

Downtown San Deigo photo courtesy of Justin in SD via Flickr