Posted by theunquietlibrary on July 4, 2008
The 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical | Home
Many thanks to Dr. JoBeth Allen from the University of Georgia Department of Language and Literacy for the heads up on this WONDERFUL event! I plan to be there…Billy Collins will be giving the keynote address! Here is the latest info straight from the festival organizers via email:
It’s hard to believe, but here we are preparing to launch the THIRD annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical. The festival has not merely survived its first few years. We’ve built on partnerships with artistic, educational, business, and governmental organizations not only from all over metropolitan Atlanta but from all over the nation. Hosted in the literary haven of Decatur, this festival has quickly joined the ranks of the largest and most talked about book festivals nationwide.
Perhaps we could just keep doing what we’ve been doing and call that good enough, but where’s the fun in that? We’ve added plenty of new and unique programs to this year’s festival:
We’ve had a Children’s Parade since the first year, but this is the first time we’ll be launching a new book at the parade. Not just any book: It’s the first new “Madeline” story in 50 years–”Madeline and the Cats of Rome”–written by John Bemelmans Marciano, the grandson of Ludwig Bemelmans. We encourage everyone to join Marciano in the parade, maybe wear a big yellow hat, sing your favorite French (or, for that matter, Italian) song, or just make some noise.
Though we’ve had programs directed at teenagers from the beginning, 2008 marks the first year we will set aside a space exclusively for teenagers, called Escape. Escape will host best-selling authors for interactive discussions, an open mic and a literary salon. For those under 18, there will also be a quiz show called How Well Do You Know Harry? judged by Cheryl Klein, continuity editor for the last four Harry Potter books.
In a historic partnership, Poets & Writers and Agnes Scott College are working with us to present the best DBF Writers Conferenceyet, with top national editors, agents, critics, publicists, authors, and screenwriters sharing their collective wisdom in a conference tightly integrated with the rest of the book festival. In addition, beginning this year, DBF will host the prestigious Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA) awards ceremony. Many of the nominees will give readings at the festival.
In 2006, we hosted the launch event for the first Atlanta Reads. This year, we’ll launch Atlanta Reads as well as the Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Atlanta’s Big Read will encourage the entire community to read and talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”
Still not enough to fill your Labor Day weekend? Check out even more of the new programs that make this year’s festival truly unique:
Brooks & Co. Dancewill perform a dance inspired by Shirley Jackson’s classic short story, “The Lottery,” set to the music of Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring” and drawing on Ninjinsky’s seminal choreography to Stravinsky’s work.
In a program called “Words from Iraq,” adult and young actors from PushPush Theater will present multiple perspectives on Iraq through readings of letters children have written to their parents in the military, blogs written by soldiers in Iraq, and a blog by a young Iraqi woman.
In the spirit of the Java Monkey Local Authors Stage, we’re adding a stage for emerging authors just beginning to get their work out into the world, called the Emerging and Exhibiting Authors Stage.
Author and former Olympian runner Jeff Galloway will lead a fun run Saturday morning of the festival, followed by a running clinic.
Lee Smith, Marshall Chapman, Jill McCorkle, and Matraca Berg will all be onstage together to give a taste of their traveling musical–The Good ol’ Girls–about their friendship and the mutual influences of their books and music on one another.
And that’s just the new stuff!
You know you can also count on us to bring you the nation’s top authors in our strongest, most diverse line-up yet. You know we’ve got you covered for good food and some of the best singer-songwriters in America. You know we’ll show the whole family a good time. So, come join us this Labor Day weekend for the best AJC Decatur Book Festival yet!
Be sure to check out our 2008 DBF web site,www.decaturbookfestival.com <http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0010o9b8-G1lEKeg0HJ9PdUjGRNyOgyeblVgbcTsEt5PKylDahxzgliuFLJWKLt-zYIoc45cFGTjIsQlOObVGPCdF6Q_S1hyNoiVHSyZMw4GDtx6o-NqZyAj84pBZOFARsm> .
Posted in Announcements, Celebrations, Community News, poetry | Tagged: AJC, Atlanta Reads, authors, Big Read, Billy Collins, blogs, books, children's parade, dance, Decatur, Decatur Book Festival, emerging authors, family, fun run, Iraq, Jeff Galloway, Labor Day Weekend 2008, poetry, poets, teen programs, The Great Gatsby, writers, writing | No Comments »
Posted by theunquietlibrary on June 16, 2008
readergirlz
Save the date: On June 19, Laurie will join them for their readergirlz LIVE! at 6 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. EDT. Join the Readergirlz forum to particpate!
It’s the end of the school year, and readergirlz is celebrating that end-of-the-year tradition–prom night–and the risk-taking behavior associated with it. This month’s readergirlz author is Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Prom. Readergirlz asks the question, “Is prom a dream of a night, or is it a nightmare?”
Discuss the book with the readergirlz divas all through June on their group forum. On June 19, Laurie will join them for their readergirlz LIVE! at 6 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. EDT. Here are some questions to ponder from the Readergirlz chat guide:
- What is the point of having a prom?
- How much money should teens spend on their prom? Should schools or parents limit how much money is spent?
- How is Carceras High like your school? How is it different?
- Some people say prom is a teenager’s first chance to act like a real adult. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
- Why do you think so many teens drink on prom night? What should be done about this?
- What would your fantasy prom night be like?
- Because of her work on the prom committee, Ashley changes the way she thinks of her future. What activities have changed the way you look at yourself?
- How is Ashley’s happy ending different from Cinderella’s . . . or is it the same? Which is more realistic? Is there such a thing as “Prince Charming” or “happily ever after?”
You can also check out this month’s other recommended reads:
- Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
- It’s Not About the Accentby Caridad Ferrer
- Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
- A Step From Heaven by An Na
- She’s So Money by Cherry Cheva
P. S. A special shout-out to diva Mitali Perkins whose middle-grade novel, Rickshaw Girl, is a finalist for the Jane Addams Honor Book for 2008!
Posted in 31 Flavorites, Author News, Readergirlz | Tagged: authors, chat, fun, Laurie Anderson, Readergirlz, reading, YA Lit | No Comments »
Posted by theunquietlibrary on June 3, 2008
from Mrs. Fleet and the Blatant Bibliophiles:
It’s the end of the school year, and readergirlz is celebrating that end-of-the-year tradition–prom night–and the risk-taking behavior associated with it. This month’s readergirlz author is Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Prom. Readergirlz asks the question, “Is prom a dream of a night, or is it a nightmare?”
Discuss the book with the readergirlz divas all through June on their group forum. On June 19, Laurie will join them for their readergirlz LIVE! at 6 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. EDT. You can also check out this month’s other recommended reads:
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
It’s Not About the Accent by Caridad Ferrer
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
A Step From Heaven by An Na
She’s So Money by Cherry Cheva
P. S. A special shout-out to diva Mitali Perkins whose middle-grade novel, Rickshaw Girl, is a finalist for the Jane Addams Honor Book for 2008!
Posted in Announcements, Book Musings, Celebrations, YA Lit | Tagged: authors, books, chat, fun, Readergirlz, reading, summer, YA Lit | 3 Comments »
Posted by theunquietlibrary on May 24, 2008
Rick Bragg, who in 1996 won the Pulitzer Prize for his feature writing at The New York Times, is scheduled to read from his new book at a book signing on May 28 at 7 p.m. at FoxTale Book Shoppe in downtown Woodstock. Admission to the book signing is the purchase of Bragg’s new book, The Prince of Frogtown, for $24 plus tax.
To find out more, check out these links:
Posted in Community News | Tagged: authors, book signing, Pulitzer, Rick Bragg, writers | No Comments »
Posted by theunquietlibrary on March 15, 2008
Just a reminder—the Simon Pulse Blogfest has kicked off! Here is a short synopsis about this landmark event that arrived in my “inbox” yesterday from the organizers of this great blogfest!
“It’s here! Our first annual Simon Pulse Blogfest launches today, giving you the chance to watch more than 100 of your favorite teen authors come together on a single jam-packed blog for 2 weeks, answering fan questions. We previously solicited questions from teens and chose 14 great ones, with the authors addressing one question every day!You can come on the blog and post your own responses to any entries as well. Please note – your own responses won’t show up immediately, as for safety purposes we are moderating the blog. But any posts that don’t contain inappropriate language or personal information WILL go up! Not all authors will be able to respond to your posts – many authors are touring and on the road, and aren’t able to check back to see the responses to their entries – but other authors will be joining in and answering back. And we’ll make sure all authors get printouts of any comments you leave about any of their entries, so they know your thoughts!So head on over to www.PulseBlogfest.com to watch the fun! Click here to read the rules first before posting your own comments, but after that, dive in and have a blast. And in case you can’t always stop by the website every day (we’ll have new entries going up every HOUR) be sure to visit our downloads area for a screensaver you can have on your desktop that pulls the blogfest directly into it!
The fun kicks off today with a question submitted by Dana, who asks our authors: “What would you be doing if you hadn’t made it as a writer?”
Just a handful of the authors posting over the next few days include:
Posted in YA Lit | Tagged: authors, blogfest, blogging, blogs, fun, Q&A, reading, YA Lit | No Comments »
Posted by theunquietlibrary on March 13, 2008
We are delighted to announce we have Kelly Bingham coming to do a poetry workshop with English classes all day in The Unquiet Library on Monday, April 28! Bingham, author of Shark Girl, will also be the featured author at Readergirlz in April!
You can visit her official website at http://www.kellybingham.net/index.html .
What will students do in this poetry workshop? Students will learn about different kinds of poems. Ms. Bingham will help students explore the concepts of word choice, “showing, instead of telling,” the element of surprise, editing poems, drafting poems, and revising poems. Students will also get to participate in a writing exercise at the end of that lecture.
Kelly Bingham is the author of a young adult novel entitled Shark Girl. It was published in April 2007 and has been nominated by the American Library Association for a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. It is also being featured in a special insert on debut fiction in Kirkus Reviews. Kelly Bingham was a story artist and later director for Walt Disney Feature Animation, where she worked for twelve years. She received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College in 2004. Kelly lives with her husband and their five children in Ellijay, Georgia.
Posted in Celebrations, Library Stuff, YA Lit | Tagged: authors, books, fun, Kelly Bingham, Readergirlz, reading, Shark Girl, YA Lit | No Comments »
