Greetings!  If you are in or near Atlanta, Georgia, you should know that there is a terrific *free* literary event happening in your area this Labor Day weekend: the Decatur Book Festival.  I will be reading on two panels:

• On Saturday, Sept. 5th, from 11:15-12:00 (noon), I’ll be reading with fiction writers Pam Durban and Kirstin Valdez Quade on a panel celebrating the 80th Anniversary of The Southern Review, a journal to which we have all been contributors.
• On Sunday, Sept. 6th, from 3:45-4:30 p.m., I’ll be reading with Jericho Brown, Denise Duhamel, Laura McCullough, and Afaa Michael Weaver as contributors to The Best American Poetry 2015, edited this year by the one and only Sherman Alexie.

There are many other literary delights you might be interested in, covering topics from history to science, and genres from romance to kids books.  I’m looking forward to seeing the keynote event, featuring Roxanne Gay in conversation with Erica Jong, and appearances on Saturday and Sunday by Elizabeth Alexander, Samuel R. Delany,  Saeed Jones, Opal Moore, Sharan Strange, Marilyn Kallet, and John Jennings among others!  (So sad to be reading at the same time as Naomi Jackson!  Fiction lovers, go hear Naomi!)

Hope to see some familiar faces and meet some new poetry lovers while I’m at the Festival!  A lovely way to cruise into fall and the new semester . . . .

Peace.