Author Appearances
The Georgia Center for the Book presents nearly 100 author events each year bringing some of the finest writers from around the nation and the state for free public programs. In 2006, a record 10,760 people attended free GCB-sponsored programs - and that does not include the approximately 50,000 people who enjoyed the three-day Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival which we co-sponsored over the Labor Day weekend. Many of the events are held in the Decatur Library. Others take place in collaboration with the Center's partners in locations throughout metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia.
May Authors Visits
- Sarah Dessen
- The New York Times bestselling young adult author arrives for a program featuring her new novel, Lock and Key. Dessen (That Summer, Someone Like You, Keeping the Moon) is a brilliant North Carolina-based writer whose sense of humor and knack for creating fascinating characters have won her millions of juvenile readers. Co-sponsored with the Margaret Mitchell House.
- Thursday, May 1, 7:00 P.M., Decatur Library Auditorium
- 'River of Words'
- The annual awards ceremony honoring Georgia's winners in our "River of Words" poetry and visual arts competition is a seasonal highlight. Join us for a first look at the colorful, imaginative works created by hundreds of students from grades four through 12. Co-sponsored with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Project WET.
- Sunday, May 4, 2:00 P.M., Chattahoochee Nature Preserve
- Philip Bobbitt
- One of America's foremost constitutional authorities who also served the administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush discusses his important new book, Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century. A front-page New York Times' review calls it "the most profound book on American foreign policy since the end of the cold war." Bobbitt holds an endowed chair at Columbia University Law School and lectures in the U.S. and abroad.
- Friday, May 9, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library Auditorium
- Carl Hiaasen
- One of America's most popular writers returns with a rollicking new book, The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport. It's laugh-out-loud funny and answers some important questions: how to you retrieve a sunken golf cart from a snake-infested lake? And, which club is best for killing rats? It's a delightful book that lampoons all that is stuffy about the sport and will appeal to seasoned golfers no less than duffers. The Florida author's novels include Tourist Season, Double Whammy and Strip Tease.
- Monday, May 12, 7:00 P.M. (Doors Open at 6), Cole Auditorium at Georgia Perimeter College-Clarkston Campus
- Mary Tillman
- Pat Tillman was an American hero who walked away from a multi-million dollar NFL contract to fight with the U.S. Army in Iraq. His mysterious death sent his family into a tumultuous search for the truth, ultimately turning up lies by Army and Pentagon officials and a cover-up of gross, deadly incompetence. His mother's new book, Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman, is a glowing memorial to her son and a powerful report on what she underwent to discover the sad truth.
- Tuesday, May 13, 7:00 P.M., Jimmy Carter Library
- Chris Bohjalian
- Bohjalian, whose novel Midwives was an Oprah Book Club pick, discusses his new book, Skeletons at the Feast. A dramatic departure for the best-selling author, it's drawn from real life about two families in the collapsing days of World War II Germany, struggling to survive and to believe in the fundamental goodness of people. Bohjalian's books include The Double Bind and The Law of Similars.
- Friday, May 16, 7:15 P.M., Decatur Library
- Barbara Walters
- Perhaps the most famous woman in the history of American television journalism makes a much-anticipated special visit to discuss her new book, Audition: A Memoir. It's an inspiring and riveting book that examines her life fully and analyzes the choices she made as she competed in a heavily male-dominated industry. It is a mesmerizing story that details the risks, the heartbreak and the enormous highs she has experienced in her long, amazing career.
- Monday, May 19, 7:00 P.M. (Doors Open at 6), Agnes Scott College
- Mike Farrell
- In Just Call Me Mike, his honest and revealing autobiography (with an introduction by Martin Sheen), Farrell details his life growing up in Hollywood, the struggles to become an actor, his happy success playing B.J. Hunnicutt on TV's M*A*S*H, and his growing commitment to social and political activism. In the process, he shows himself a likable, serious and winning personality with a worthwhile story to tell.
- Wednesday, May 21, 7:15 p.m. (Doors Open at 6), Decatur Library
- Elise Blackwell
- Blackwell (The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish and Grub) is a thoughtful, literary author whose new book, Hunger: A Novel, is set during Hitler's siege of Leningrad. It's a beautiful debut novel of a scientist's deeply moving confrontation with his own morality. Critics call it a searing exploration of the limitations and possibilities of the human spirit. The author is on the faculty at the University of South Carolina.
- Thursday, May 22, 7:15 P.M., Decatur Library
- Sanjay Gupta
- The popular CNN medical consultant and Emory University neurosurgeon discusses his intriguing new book, Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today. It's a revealing look at the latest research into longevity with a goal of helping us live not just longer but better. Eating the right foods, he says, is a critical element in successful aging along with exercise for the body and the brain.
- Saturday, May 24, 2:00 P.M. (Doors Open at 1), Decatur Library
- Alison Weir
- The distinguished English historical biographer (The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Wars of the Roses and The Life of Elizabeth) and novelist visits to talk about her fascinating portrayal of a remarkable queen, The Lady Elizabeth. It's an unforgettable, sweeping exploration of the bloody conflicts between family, religion and conscience that came to define an age.
- Tuesday, May 27, 7:15 p.m., Decatur Library
- Elizabeth Berg
- The acclaimed author of more than a dozen novels including Range of Motion, The Handmaid and the Carpenter and Joy School, discusses her exciting new story collection, The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Other Small Acts of Liberation. These are exhilarating short stories of women breaking free from convention as they navigate through emotional landmines.
- Wednesday, May 28, 7:15 p.m., Decatur Library
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June Authors Visits
- Elisabeth Payne Rosen
- Rosen's debut book, Hallam's War, is a sprawling Civil War-era novel of exciting romance and thoughtful, accurate history that Library Journal says "ought to draw Miss Scarlett's fans like flies to honey." Serena Hallam is the daughter of a prominent Charleston family whose husband goes off to fight the Yankees while she struggles on the homefront. It's an epic, eloquent and often-heartbreaking tale told by an author who is a deacon in the Episcopal Church and a hospital chaplain.
- Monday, 7:15 PM, June 2, Decatur Library
- Leif Enger
- The author of the international best-seller Peace Like a River returns with his highly anticipated second novel, So Brave, Young and Handsome. It's a compelling, gritty early 20th century western filled with memorable characters and couched in an easy storytelling style of a folk ballad. It's about an outlaw's effort to right his past, told with a vitality and honesty that will delight and ensnare readers of all ages.
- Tuesday, June 3, 7:15 PM (Doors open 6:15 PM) Decatur Library
- Chuck Palahniuk
- The hard-hitting author of Fight Club, Rant and Fugitives and Refugees, talks about his audacious new novel, Snuff, the story of an aging porn queen who plans to crown her career with an unbelievably outrageous action. But things get confusing and turned upside-down when a man shows up claiming to be her long-lost son. Palahniuk's appearance has several rules for attendees; please check the web site below for details.
- Wednesday, June 4, 7:15 PM (doors open 6 PM), Cole Auditorium, Georgia Perimeter College Clarkston campus (Signing details at www.chuckpalahniuk.net)
- Richard Engel
- NBC News' award-winning Middle East correspondent Engel makes a special visit to discuss his important new book, War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq. Don't miss this first-hand report, unvarnished and often shocking, on what's been happening in the war-torn nation of Iraq since the American invasion. Critics are already calling it the most dramatic and intimate account of battle reporting since Michael Herr's classic, Dispatches. (Co-sponsored with A Cappella Books)
- Thursday, June 5, 7:00 PM, Jimmy Carter Library
- Marlena Deblasi
- More breathtaking adventures in Italy from the best-selling author of A Thousand Days in Tuscany and The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria. This time author deBlasi takes us to more real-life adventures, sweet and bittersweet, a little to the south in her new book, That Summer in Sicily. It's packed with charming characters, delightful recipes and some unexpected views of the Sicilian landscape.
- Monday, June 9, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library
- Mike Glenn
- Former NBA star Mike "Stinger" Glenn (Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks) writes with passion and understanding about an African American icon in his new book, Frederick Douglass: The Founding Father of Slavery Free America. The book examines the life and vision of the outspoken abolitionist and preacher Douglass, focusing primarily on his pre-Civil War career, 1818-1860. Glenn lives in Atlanta and is a book collector and former NBA broadcaster.
- Wednesday, June 11, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library
- Jeffery Deaver
- One of the masters of the modern suspense novel returns to Decatur to talk about his latest thriller, The Broken Window, a terrific, engaging Lincoln Rhyme novel. Deaver's books include The Cold Moon, A Maiden's Grave and The Sleeping Doll, and he is the co-author, with Dave Barry, of the ultra-exciting book for younger readers, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon: The Starcatchers. Don't miss this most entertaining program!
- Thursday, June 12, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library
- Lise Funderburg
- The author's new book, Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home, is "a candid and moving memoir of a daughter's deep love for her father when he is most difficult to love." It's a poignant and sometimes comical story as the author, a white-appearing mixed race woman who grew up in Philadelphia, visits her dying father in the South and comes to grips with a man she knew little about. The author's books include the acclaimed study, Black, White, Other.
- Monday, June 16, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library
- Kasey Pipes
- Pipes, former speechwriter for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a co-author of the 2004 Republican Party platform, uses his insider's perspective to write about President Eisenhower's clash with the institution of segregation in Ike's Last Battle: The Road to Little Rock and the challenge of Equality. It's the memorable story of why Ike sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock in 1957 to enforce high school integration.
- Tuesday, June 19, 7:00 PM, Jimmy Carter Library
- J.L. Miles
- Jackie Miles is the popular Atlanta author of the novels Roseflower Creek and Cold Rock River, and she's back with another delightful tale, Divorcing Dwayne. It's the first of a planned trilogy of novels, set in rural Georgia and focusing on the not-so-smooth marriage of Francine Harper and her no-good hubby Dwayne. There are lots of laughs and some tender moments, too. The author is one of the "Dixie Divas."
- Thursday, June 19, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library
- Flannery O'Connor's Georgia
- Author Sarah Gordon, editor Craig Amason and photographer Marcelina Martin join us for a wonderful evening's treat with their sumptuous new book, A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia. The book offers more than 60 color photos, maps and an authoritative text placing O'Connor and her work with the sites most associated with the author in the Peach State. The result is a stunning feast for the eyes and mind.
- Monday, June 23, 7:15 PM, Decatur Library
- Thomas Laird & Robert Thurman
- We're co-sponsoring this special evening program on Tibet and the Dalai Lama with the Carter Library. You'll have the rare opportunity to hear from two noted authors: veteran journalist Thomas Laird, author of The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, and Columbia University professor Robert Thurman, author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet and the World.
- Tuesday, June 24, 7:00 PM, Jimmy Carter Library
For more information on these projects, or on the Georgia Center for
the Book, contact at 404-370-8450 ext 2225, or via
E-mail.
© 2004, Georgia Center for the Book
c/o DeKalb County Public Library
215 Sycamore Street
Decatur, Georgia 30030
Last updated: May 13, 2008.
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