Mercedes Kane reads work from her MFA program at UGA at the 2024 Emerging Writers session, which took place at The Reading Room in Decatur. (Photos courtesy of Ally StoneWright)

One of Ally StoneWright’s first experiences at the Decatur Book Festival was participating in a student reading at Eddie’s Attic as a MFA student at SCAD Atlanta. “It made me feel part of the literary community,” she said. “All the students came out and supported it, and then we were at the Festival, so we also supported the whole Festival.”

In 2024, after the stripped-down festivals of the pandemic era, Decatur Book Festival Executive Director Leslie Wingate asked StoneWright, now the programming and communications specialist at the Georgia Center for the Book, what the revived Festival should include. StoneWright immediately thought back to the readings from her student days.

“I had such fond memories of those readings,” she said, adding that this year’s 20th anniversary offers a chance to expand the Festival to its pre-pandemic grandeur. The Emerging Student Writers program, now in its second year, is a big part of that effort. 

Ally StoneWright.

“The Festival needs student writers just as much as student writers need the Festival,” she said. “My goal, if this continues, would be to grow that partnership and do more things to involve the writers in the Festival.”

In StoneWright’s view, programs such as Emerging Student Writers benefit everyone involved, bringing new voices into the literary scene, exposing book lovers to cutting-edge student work and building a sense of community for all. Student readings “offer them a place at the Festival that they wouldn’t have had otherwise because they maybe aren’t traditionally published or can’t afford a booth.” They also give students a view of what they have to look forward to after graduation, reminding them that “the literary world [is] a living, breathing, never-ending community.”

That sense of community is a draw for attendees as well. “People love coming together over books that they have enjoyed reading,” StoneWright said. “It’s really nice to be reminded that books and writing and reading are about community and bringing people together and learning about different people.”

A total of seven metro area universities are participating this year, up from five in 2024: Emory University, Mercer University, Kennesaw State University, Agnes Scott College, Georgia State University, the University of Georgia and Georgia College & State University. 

Each school is allotted 45 minutes of reading time to be filled however it chooses. A detailed schedule of the readers, complete with bios and head shots, will be available for attendees on the Decatur Book Festival website. 

Readings take place in the Decatur Library’s fourth floor galley and event space and run throughout the day. The space is currently the site of The Book As Art v.13: Mixed Messages, an exhibit sponsored by the Georgia Center for the Book and Decatur Arts Alliance, which showcases books reimagined by visual artists. It’s one of StoneWright’s favorite programs and will give attendees plenty to look at as they listen to the students’ work. 

StoneWright added that festival-goers don’t need to be students to attend the readings. “Don’t be intimidated, she said. “Just come. We’re excited.”

Where & When

The Emerging Student Writers Stage takes place from 10 a.m. until 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, October 4, during the Decatur Book Festival. Admission is free.
215 Sycamore St., Decatur

::

Rachel Wright has a Ph.D. from Georgia State University and an MA from the University College Dublin, both in creative writing. Her work has appeared in The Stinging Fly and elsewhere. She is currently at work on a novel.