Harry Connick Jr., Jill Biden to take the stage at MJCCA book fest

Biden will discuss her memoir “View from the East Wing.” Connick will talk about his tribute to his mother, “Babe: Elaboratio.” And Sussman’s conversation about her book, “Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy Tel Aviv-y Recipes,” will include a dessert reception.

Novelists participating this year include Renee Rosen, whose book “Let’s Call Her Barbie” fictionalizes Ruth Handler’s creation of the enduringly popular doll in 1956, and Jenna Blum, who spins a tale of romance and murder among authors in “Murder Your Darlings.” Local fiction writers Jessica Handler (“The World to See”), Lynn Cullen (“When We Were Brilliant”) and co-authors Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores (“Perfect Life”) will also make appearances.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Among the nonfiction offerings are a number of historians and experts in the fields of law, psychology and activism who will discuss their books on issues related to antisemitism, Israel and the Holocaust. Among them are Simon Sebag Montefiore (“The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East”), Natalie Livingstone (“The Nuremberg Women”) and Shai Davidai (“American Intellectual Antisemitism”).

For details on dates and ticket prices, go to atlantajcc.org.

Other upcoming book festivals include:

Decatur Book Festival. Following a keynote address on Oct. 2 with journalist Brian Goldstone, who won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for “There Is No Place for Us,” daylong festivities will take place in downtown Decatur on Oct. 3. Festivities include a street fair, food vendors, entertainment and multiple stages hosting author talks and signings for books of all genres and for all ages. Participating authors include Tayari Jones (“Kin”), Silas House (“The Tulip Poplars”), Judson Mitcham (“Let Your Heart Be Troubled: Poems”) and Patricia Lockwood (“No One Is Talking About This”). For details, go to decaturbookfestival.com.

Atlanta Book Festival. Launched last year, this book festival targeting Gen Zers and millennials returns Oct. 17 to Plywood Place in Atlanta. Participating authors include Atlanta writer Ashley Jordan, whose literary debut “Once Upon a Time in Dollywood” was a Reese’s Book Club pick, and Eddie Dee Williams, author of the superhero romance thriller series The Affinity Saga. Festivities include author panels, a book market, show and tell, a makers workshop and networking activities. Preceding the festival are Prologue Week events including an audiobook walk, a social mixer and a book swap. For details, go to atlantabookfest.org.

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

Literary legacy

Atlanta author Robert Gwaltney, who published the Southern gothic mystery “Sing Down the Moon” earlier this year, has been named executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, South Carolina.

A native of Cairo and former vice president of operations for Easterseals North Georgia, Gwaltney was a senior in high school when he first read Pat Conroy. It had a big impact.

“He is one of those writers who’s showed me the possibility of Southern storytelling,” said Gwaltney. “The topics that he wrote about really impacted me and resonated with me as a writer, and that’s the power of place, family, memory and the complicated relationship that we have with where we come from.”

Gwaltney’s first official event with the center will be the Lowcountry Book Club Convention Sept. 26, followed by the 11th annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival, which marks the 50th anniversary of “The Great Santini,” in October.

His goals for the center include expanding its literary programming and educational initiatives, as well as its partnerships and community storytelling efforts.

“My hope is we’ll continue to honor Pat Conroy’s legacy by not just simply remembering what he wrote but by continuing what he believed that stories could do — that is connecting us to place, that’s connecting us to one another and, ultimately, that’s connecting us to ourselves.”

New Southern literary prize

South Arts, a regional nonprofit arts organization based in Atlanta, has announced a new book-length literary prize for works in progress, and it comes with a substantial purse. The winner gets $25,000, and two runners-up get $10,000 each. The competition is open to writers 18 years or older who are full-time residents of the organization’s 11-state Southeastern region. Deadline for submissions is Oct. 7, with winners announced in November. For details, go to southarts.org.

Suzanne Van Atten is a columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.