It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like the AJC-Decatur Book Festival
I’ve been involved with the AJC-Decatur Book Festival since it was a neat idea being brainstormed by a bunch of cool people over breakfast. Tom Bell, the Programming Director (and in general a person of awesomeness) has been one of my best friends for about a dozen years, and my dear friend (and Little Shop’s co-owner) Diane Capriola and I have been doing the children’s programming together since the beginning. Last year I started up The Escape, a teens-only stage, and we’re doing it again this year. I’ve sold books, met authors, stood in the hot sun, had meetings in New York, led the children’s parade, directed volunteers, done a sing-a-long in the rain . . . I’ve done a lot when it comes to this festival, and I’ve loved every minute.
But I haven’t ever been a featured author before. And this year, thanks to my good friend Tom’s insistence, I get to not only captain The Escape, I get to be on it. With Lauren Myracle, no less. And, like, a bunch of other crazycool people–many of whom are actually my friends.
I’ve also never, ever been on the poster before. (And the poster has never been quite so cool.) Look closely and you’ll see it. Thanks so hugely, Scott Sanders!!
I’m also not sure I’ve been quite as ginormously psyched and excited about the teen programming as I am this year.
Check it out here is the lineup:
Saturday September 5th:
12:00 — Chris Schweizer (Crogan’s Vengeance), Eleanor Davis (Stinky, Secret Science Alliance), Drew Weing (Set to Sea, the Adventures of Wulf and Merl), Joey Weiser (The Ride Home, Tales of Unusual Circumstance), Kevin Burkhalter (Kevin Days a Week), Jarrett Williams (Lunar Boy, SuperPro K.O.!), and Allen Spetnagel (Dr. Eisenbart) are all going to get up on the stage at once and talk about making your own minicomics: how they do it, how they got into it, and how you can do it too!
12:30 — The amazing Ally Carter (I’d Tell You I Love You but Then I’d Have to Kill You, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, and Don’t Judge a Girl By Her Cover) will be talking about her spy-tacular series following Cammie, Josh, Macey, Bex and the rest of the Gallagher crew.
1:00 — The local gang of high school hilarity, the D.U.C.K. Improv troupe, will be educating and entertaining with their literary, audience-fed improvisation.
1:30 — Okay here’s where me and Lauren Myracle talk to each other (and you guys) about Pure and Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks and other good stuff in our “Smells Like Teen Spirit” discussion.
2:00 — Two terrific gals, my shoptastic pal Aimee Friedman (Sea Change, The Year My Sister Got Lucky) and local luminary Jackson Pearce (As You Wish) are going to ruminate on the pros and cons of falling in love with a boy who may or may not have magical powers in “If You Broke His Heart, Would He Bleed? Falling In Love With a Supernatural Boy.”
2:30 — Bring out the claws and the fangs, gang. Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy series) and Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver) are going to be moderating this werewolves vs. vampires smackdown: an audience-participation discussion battling out which creature of the night has better books.
3:00 — Did you think this stage was only about the girls? Guys, there’s a lot more for you on the Escape stage (and the world of books) than you might think, and Jon Scieszka (you may remember him from The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales) is going to tell us all about the latter in this special Guys Read half hour.
3:30 — Last year she was a smash hit on the Escape stage, and I am completely psyched to welcome her back to the festival this year: Sara Shepard has come out with three new books since she visited us, two in the Pretty Little Liars series, and an adult book (The Visibles) too!
4:00 — I have been asking my good friend (and former co-worker) David Levithan to come visit me at the AJC – Decatur Book Festival since it started up, and now I’m happy to say he’s finally coming down south! I couldn’t be happier about the timing, either, because his new book Love Is the Higher Law is about one of the most beautiful YA books I’ve ever read.
4:30 — So, last year when I was starting to make plans for the teen stage, I went and talked to the teen advisory board at the Decatur Library about what kinds of stuff they might want to see on the stage. And one of their suggestions was some kind of panel where people were recommending things for them to read. The result I came up with was “Break In Case of Emergency, This Book Could Save Your Life,” a panel of non-YA authors talking about the books that meant the most to them when they were teens, or books they’ve read since that they wish they’d read when they were teens. This was one of the best conversations in the whole festival (in my opinion), and this year’s conversation (with Robert Olen Butler, Hollis Gillespie, Mark Fitten, Laurel Snyder and Michael Malone) is sure to be another amazing one.
After that you can all go to the Youth Poetry Slam on the Children’s Stage out on the square at 5:30, which is always jaw-droppingly awesome and full of terrific energy.
All of these Escape activities happen at Several Dancers Core, by the way, up in Decatur Square, between Raging Burrito and Carribean Harry’s (so you know you can get a good bite if you need to), right in the middle of all the festival action.
Looking forward to seeing as many of you there as humanly possible!!