YES!! THE book festival of the year is finally here! Woot woot! I’ve been attending this book festival ever since we moved here to GA. The festival keeps getting better and bigger every year! Last year was a blast!

So here, I’ve compiled a list of authors and their presentation sessions I’m planning on attending. I’m looking forward to listening to every one of them! (Their presentation sessions and topics are in the blue boxes)

The Gown by Jennifer Robson & The Chelsea Girl by Fiona Davis

The Gown by Jennifer Robson

“From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.” (Publisher)

Check out my full review here.

“The bright lights of the theater district, the glamour and danger of 1950s New York, and the wild scene at the iconic Chelsea Hotel come together in a dazzling new novel about a twenty-year friendship that will irrevocably change two women’s lives—from the national bestselling author of The Dollhouse and The Address.” (Publisher)

My, am I excited to meet the authors! I absolutely loved The Gown! I can’t wait to read The Chelsea Girls!

Session: Created Sisterhoods: When Women Make Up Their Own Community of Support

In her novel, The Gown, Jennifer Robson puts female characters together in a situation that pulls them into friendship and solace. Friendship is crucial as well for the characters in Fiona Davis’ novel The Chelsea Girls. Join these two authors as they discuss created sisterhoods and the value of togetherness in the face of danger and discord.

The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi S. Laskar & A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin

The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi S. Laskar

“Devi S. Laskar’s The Atlas of Reds and Blues is as narratively beautiful as it is brutal. In prose that moves between cushioning characters’ falls and ushering our understandings of characters’ utopias, Laskar creates a world where the consequences of American terror never stop reverberating. I’ve never read a novel that does nearly as much in so few pages. Laskar has changed how we will all write about state-sanctioned terror in this nation.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

A thought-provoking, powerful, honest and devastating read, and I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot from their presentation!

Click here for my full review of her book.

A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin

“A stunning debut novel, from Rhodes Scholar and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, Tope Folarin about a Nigerian family living in Utah and their uncomfortable assimilation to American life. ” (Publisher)

I’m looking forward to listening to him talk!

Session: Searching for Community and Home Amid Displacement, PEN America Immigration Track

Debut novelists Devi Laskar and Tope Folarin explore the theme of displacement, and the feeling of being unmoored and isolated, while searching for supportive and accepting communities. In the process, their characters grapple with identity, fraught memories, prejudice, as they learn how to redefine what it means to be and feel at home.

Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras & Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

“Simultaneously propulsive and poetic, reminiscent of Isabel Allende…Listen to this new author’s voice — she has something powerful to say.”
–Entertainment Weekly

This book shattered my heart into pieces… Click here for my full review.

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

“Spellbinding, moving–evoking a fascinating region on the other side of the world–this suspenseful and haunting story announces the debut of a profoundly gifted writer.” (Publisher)

Click here for my full review.

Session: After the Fall: Stories Amid the Chaos of Collapse

Respectively set in Bogota, Colombia and on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia during and soon after immense change in the civil order, the characters in Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ and Julia Phillips’ debut novels contend with the shock and aftershocks of societal disruption – affording the reader perspective about the strength of the girls and women in their stories who struggle to forge authentic lives despite the fragility of the failing systems they can no longer take for granted.

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn & On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

“A beautifully layered portrait of motherhood, immigration, and the sacrifices we make in the name of love from award-winning novelist Nicole Dennis-Benn.” (Publisher)

Click here for my full review.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.” (Publisher)

Click here for my full review.

Session: Sacrifice in the name of Love, PEN America Immigration Track

In his novel, On This Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong writes about people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Patsy is a prismatic depiction of immigration and womanhood, and the lasting threads of love stretching across years and oceans. Both novels follow characters who struggling to find their place, and the sacrifices they make in the name of love.

Inland by Tea Obreht

“Mythical, lyrical, and sweeping in scope, Inland is grounded in true but little-known history. It showcases all of Téa Obreht’s talents as a writer, as she subverts and reimagines the myths of the American West, making them entirely—and unforgettably—her own.” (Publisher)

Click here for my full review.

Obreht be interviewed by Alison Law.

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse in this uniquely hilarious debut from a genre-bending literary author.

Hollow Kingdom is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow can become a hero.

My review here.

Cairo, 1912: The case started as a simple one for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities — handling a possessed tram car.

Soon, however, Agent Hamed Nasr and his new partner Agent Onsi Youssef are exposed to a new side of Cairo stirring with suffragettes, secret societies, and sentient automatons in a race against time to protect the city from an encroaching danger that crosses the line between the magical and the mundane.

My review here.

Session: Not Your Everyday Visionaries

Science fiction is often called the premiere popular story form of modernity—and with good reason. Stories about sleek spaceships, strange new worlds, and exotic alien others give us a chance to see our selves and our own world from fresh new perspectives—and they give us ways to share those insights with others across centuries, continents, and cultures. Join us as we explore the power of science fiction to teach us new things about the past and present and to imagine better futures for all.

Looking forward to meeting them!

Meanwhile, at the Children’s Stage:

My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi

I’ve not read this book, but I’ve read ‘American Street’ and loved it! Review up soon.

Session: Fitting In (also with Mariama Lockington & Celia Perez)

Identity is at the heart of these mid grade novels about kids trying to find their place in the world. In Mariama Lockington’s For Black Girls Like Me, a young adopted girl wonders what her family would be like if they all looked like her. In Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia Perez, a group of girls learns that friends can be family no matter what. Ibi Zoboi shares the story of a young girl finding her way in a new place in My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich.

Other authors I’m interested in listening to:

Roshani Chokshi, Aisha Saeed, Adam Rubin & Tanya Valentine

*Information stated above have been taken from the Decatur Book Festival website. For a full schedule, please click here.

If you’re a book lover and you’re in Atlanta, YOU MUST COME TO THE FEST! It’s absolutely amazing!