When my publicist contacted me several months ago about attending the Decatur Book Festival near Atlanta I had no idea that I was being invited to one of the best book events ever!
As several people pointed out, this festival has grown up very quickly (just in five years or so) to be one of the best book festivals in the country and over Labor Day Weekend approximately 70,000 people descend on the town square in beautiful Decatur, Georgia.
The old courthouse–AKA the heart of the book festival
Decatur is an absolutely adorable town that maintains so much small town charm and individuality that it’s easy to forget it’s a part of the major city of Atlanta.
I got into town on Thursday and spent a lot of time walking around Decatur, checking out Little Shop of Stories (one of the greatest bookstores ever), and eating extremely good tacos.
Bookzilla!I was lucky enough to get to visit a wonderful middle school in Alpharetta, GA on Friday, and then we spent all Friday afternoon driving to various bookstores in the Atlanta area, signing stock. So if you live or shop in Atlanta, keep your eyes peeled! You never know where they might pop up.
And then it was time for the main event!
Saturday, thousands of people descended on the square. There were big-time authors and musicians and readers and writers almost as far as the eye could see.
And I highly approve of some of their reading selections.
I didn’t count and I’m terrible about guessing crowd sizes, but I would say that there were probably at least 100 people who squeezed into the dance studio that was serving as the festival’s Teen Stage. (Some panels were in churches… some in tents… some in hotel conference rooms… )
As always, everyone asked great questions and it was incredibly fun to be with all of you. So thank you SO MUCH for coming!
I would have been happy to just hang around the festival all day, going to panels and stalking my favorite authors, but the fun was only just beginning because I was back in the car, heading up the Alpharetta for the big B&N; signing with…
LAUREN MYRACLE!
I LOVE doing events with other authors. There’s laughing and joking and someone to talk to if no one else shows up! (Unless the other author doesn’t show up either. Which would probably be the saddest signing ever.)
Fortunately people DID show up!
Not just people–Gallagher Girls!!!!
So again, in summary:
Decatur Book Festival—AWESOME!
Little Shop of Stories–AWESOME!
Lauren Myracle–AWESOME!
Gallagher Girls–the most awesome girls in the world.
Have a great Labor Day, everybody and thanks again to everyone who came out this weekend!
-Ally