Denise Kiernan talks about her new book, The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home. It's the story of the creation of the Biltmore House, the Vanderbilt estate in North Carolina. And it's about so much more.

Denise Kiernan Author Website: http://www.denisekiernan.com/

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum Events Website: https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/events/

Emory Exhibition: The Dream Machine: The Beat Generation & the Counterculture, 1940–1975. http://bit.ly/beats-at-emory 

Pete Souza, Obama: An Intimate Portrait: https://www.acappellabooks.com/pages/events/210/pete-souza-obama-an-intimate-portrait

David Gushee Event Website: http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/programs/david-gushee-still-christian-following-jesus-out-of-american-evangelicalism 

Celeste Ng talks with Alison about her latest novel, Little Fires Everywhere. She explains why she starts at the end, and reveals her secret other life.

Celeste Ng Website

Celeste Ng SCADShow Event

Michael Twitty Event

Jared Yates Sexton Event

Recorded live at the AJC Decatur Book Festival, four perspectives on the state of long-form storytelling in a digital age. Hosted by Alison and Including:

Suzanne van Atten, Personal Journeys editor at the AJC

Chuck Reece of The Bitter Southerner

Josh Jackson of Paste Magazine

David Markowitz of Zero Mile Media

NY Times profile of Chuck Reece

Opening Keynote with Brooke Gladstone (WNYC's On the Media), Wesley Lowery (The Washington Post), and Carolyn Ryan (The New York Times)

Pam Jenoff tells Alison about weaving history and fiction into a seamless tale. And the real story of Jewish circus dynasties in Europe. Paige Bowers has written a biography of one of the bravest and most devoted foot soldiers of the French resistance in WWII: Genevieve de Gaulle, niece of Charles de Gaulle.

http://www.pamjenoff.com/

http://www.paigebowers.com/

https://www.decaturbookfestival.com/

After high school, Peter McDade moved to Atlanta with the goal of becoming a famous musician. And he was pretty successful. He talks with Alison about how much of his past inspired his debut novel, The Weight of Sound, and he reveals the playlist he was listening to while writing.

http://www.peterjmcdade.com/the-weight-of-sound/

https://www.decaturbookfestival.com/

Adrian Miller, author of Soul Food and The President's Kitchen Cabinet, talks with Alison about how one goes about researching soul food, the misconceptions so many people have about it, the history of cooks in the White House, and what the president's menu reveals about the man.

http://adrianemiller.com/

https://www.decaturbookfestival.com/

http://www.georgiacenterforthebook.org/

http://www.charisbooksandmore.com/

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson 

Link: http://a.co/9ew6Cgb

Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America by Patrick Phillips 

Link: http://a.co/dNeobJ3

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 

Link: http://a.co/1AIlyeh

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine 

Link: http://a.co/9BrEfgm

Daren Wang, Executive Director of the Decatur Book Festival, talks about creating a community of readers in Atlanta and the unconventional book tour planned for his debut novel, The Hidden Light of Northern Fires.

Here are some ways to learn out more about Daren and the Festival:

https://www.darenwang.com/

https://decaturbookfestival.com/