Decatur, GA — The AJC Decatur Book Festival presented by Emory University is moving to online programming for 2020, according to a press release.

For the past fourteen years, the DBF has grown to become one of the most noteworthy book festivals in the country, drawing tens of thousands of book lovers to downtown Decatur, Georgia each Labor Day weekend. The DBF has put Atlanta on the literary map as a top destination for authors releasing new books. The Festival has also given the Decatur community an opportunity to host some of the country’s most creative and influential writers, including Billy Collins, Jonathan Franzen, Natasha Trethewey, Tayari Jones, Roxane Gay, Charles Frazier, and Jericho Brown.

This year, the global coronavirus pandemic has prompted the Festival staff and board to depart from tradition.

“In the interest of public health, we have determined that holding a large-scale physical festival this Labor Day weekend is not feasible,” said Joy Pope, the festival’s Interim Executive Director. “Instead, we are planning a virtual festival that will celebrate the DBF’s 15th anniversary in a way that is unique to our community. We want to bring content, candor, and civic engagement into our lives in meaningful ways — something that the events of the past week have made more urgent than ever before. Beginning on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and continuing through September, the festival will present 15 virtual events that will represent the best of what the DBF does: ignite conversations inspired by diverse books and authors that engage our hearts and minds.”

The DBF has already begun virtual programming with its popular Joshilyn Jackson Reads series. ​With the help of Georgia Center for the Book and metro Atlanta libraries, the festival is featuring a total of eleven talks between ​New York Times​-bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson and eighteen writers of her choosing whose works span genres and topics.

Sign up via the DBF website:​ ​https://www.crowdcast.io/decaturbookfestival.

Information about the 15 late summer and fall events will be announced in July.

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