The Decatur Book Festival is auctioning off all kinds of cool stuff this year. For example, we’re partnering with the Decatur Education Foundation on Book the Brick.

Winning bidders get an hour at one of the barrel tables outside the Brick Store with your favorite author. Yep, hang out in one of the best beer bars in the world, jaw with Michael Connelly or Austin Kleon or Richard Kadrey, and support the DBF and education. Nope, not sure what the downside is.

Here’s the lineup:
Amanda Kyle Williams
Leonard Marcus
Shannon Hale
Michael Connelly
Michael Morris
Kerry & Kathy Reichs
John T. Edge
Adam Reed
Tess Gerritsen
Gail Tsukiyama
Austin Kleon
Richard Kadrey

From the Decatur Book Festival…

Best-selling authors Mary Kay Andrews, Joshilyn Jackson and Clyde Edgerton are among a half- dozen writers being “auctioned” off for charity next month in Decatur, Ga.

The authors – all of whom are appearing at the Decatur Book Festival Sept. 2-4 – agreed to spend 1 hour with the highest bidder, enjoying drinks and conversation at Decatur’s famous Brick Store Pub. Fans can place their bids on eBay until Aug. 24 (search term: “Book the Brick”).

Sponsored by the festival and the Decatur Education Foundation, the “Book the Brick” auction was designed to raise money for youth literacy programs in the community. Winning bidders also receive a signed copy of the author’s latest book.

Other authors participating include Hollywood stuntman Hal Needham, director of “Smokey and the Bandit” and now author of “Stuntman!”; teen / tween author Lauren Myracle, whose latest book is “Shine”; Susan Rebecca White, author of “A Soft Place to Land” and “Bound South”; and Atlanta writer and satirist Andisheh Nouraee, co-author of “Americapedia.”

Winning bidders may bring a guest. For details, visit www.DecaturEducationFoundation.org.

Looking at the Ebay list at this very moment, all auctions are starting at $100.