Arts Agenda: Book festivals and events

Each week, ArtsATL delivers a critic’s short list of the shows, exhibitions, concerts and events we recommend for the coming weeks within one discipline or venue type in the kaleidoscope of Atlanta arts and culture.

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September 22

John T. Edge, author of the acclaimed The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, tells his own story for the first time in his new memoir, House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home. Edge will appear in conversation with Francis Lam, host of public radio’s The Spendid Table, at the Atlanta History Center’s McElreath Hall at 7 p.m. September 22.

September 29

Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black will discuss her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War at 7 p.m., September 29, at the Decatur Library. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested but not required.

September 30

R. William Johnstone and Wyche Fowler will discuss Wyche Fowler: A Political Life in Georgia, Congress, and Abroad with Joe Crespino at the Atlanta History Center’s McElreath Hall at 7 p.m. on September 30.

Georgia Center for the Book’s 2025 Lillian Smith Book Awards will be celebrated at the Decatur Library at 7 p.m. on September 30. This year’s recipients are Robert Cohen for Confronting Jim Crow: Race, Memory, and the University of Georgia in the Twentieth Century and Crystal R. Sanders for A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs.

Oct 22-Nov 16

The Book Festival of the MJCCA features dozens of renowned authors each year. Among the authors appearing at this year’s edition are John Grisham, Dorie Greenspan and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

October 3-4

The Decatur Book Festival returns October 3 and October 4 with a keynote by Saeed Jones and the People’s Project. The Festival will include appearances by authors Joshua Sharpe and Ann Hite, chefs Steven Satterfield and Duane Nutter, playwright Kimberly Belflower and many more.

October 4

Creative writing hub LostintheLetters will host a grand opening for its new writers’ space and bookstore in Candler Park on October 4.

October 8

A Cappella Books and Georgia Center for the Book welcome former CIA analyst and best-selling author David McCloskey to discuss his new book, The Persian, a novel that takes readers deep into the shadow war between Iran and Israel. The event is free and begins at 7 p.m. October 8 at the Decatur Library.

Martin Padgett will discuss his latest book, The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS, in a conversation with Claire Haley at the Margaret Mitchell House at 7 p.m. October 8.

October 11

Burnaway will host Book // Zine, its inaugural art book and zine fair, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on October 11 at The Goat Farm.

October 15

A Cappella Books welcomes authors Ann Litrel and Charles Seabrook to discuss their new book, 35 Natural Wonders of Georgia to See before You Die. It takes place at 7 p.m. on October 15 at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.

October 19

A Cappella Books welcomes photographer, director and writer Seth Neblett to Commune in Avondale Estates in honor of his oral history book, Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic. The free event happens at 7 p.m. October 19.

October 20

Michael Twitty, author of the James Beard Award-winning memoir The Cooking Gene, will discuss his latest book, Recipes from the American South, in a conversation with Leanna Pierre at the Atlanta History Center’s McElreath Hall at 7 p.m. October 20.