Georgia Literary Festival

The Georgia Literary Festival is a "moveable feast" celebrating the state's finest writers at the locations they called home.

Date:  Saturday, August 13, 2005
Place:  Elberton, Georgia
Program:  free events
History:  past festivals

Introduction

The Georgia Literary Festival, a "moveable feast" celebrating Georgia's rich and diverse literary heritage, is sponsored by the Georgia Center for the Book in Decatur.

The seventh annual Georgia literary Festival was held in Elberton in Northeast Georgia on Saturday, August 13 to celebrate the life and work of four distinguished authors.

The sixth annual Georgia Literary Festival drew a large and enthusiastic crowd in Elberton Saturday, August 13. In spite of blazing hot weather, more than 1,500 people turned out for events on the city's historic Square and in the newly restored Elbert Theater.

Popular Georgia authors Terry Kay, Jeff Fields and Dr. James C. Cobb were honored at the festival, and some 700 people attended their lectures. In addition, a tribute was paid to the late Elberton writer Corra Harris, and several dozen visitors enjoyed a ramble to her home near the city. A play based on her best-selling book, A Circuit Rider's Wife, was presented twice during the festival to near-capacity audiences.

In addition, hundreds of families took part in activities on the Square including children's costumed characters, storytellers and children's authors. The festival generated thousands of dollars for community organizations including the Elbert County Library.

Georgia author Terry Kay signs books for delighted visitors during the sixth annual Georgia Literary Festival in Elberton Saturday August 13, 2005.

Terry Kay, born in nearby Hart County, is one of Georgia's most popular authors. His books include To Dance With the White Dog, The Year the Lights Came On and most recently, The Valley of Light, his 11th book. His is a previous winner of the Georgia Author of the Year Award.

Jeff Fields, who grew up in Elberton, published his first novel, A Cry of Angels, acclaimed by The New York Times as a delightful blend of Mark Twain, Erskine Caldwell and William Faulkner, 1974. A former television producer now living near Atlanta, he is at work on a second book.

James C. Cobb, who grew up in Hartwell, is one of the nation's most honored historians and author or editor of nearly a dozen scholarly volumes including Georgia Odyssey and Redefining Southern Culture. He is currently B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History of the American South at the University of Georgia.

Corra Harris, born in Elbert County, is one of Georgia's most celebrated women writers of the early 20th century. She wrote 19 books, many of them novels, including a closely autobiographical novel, A Circuit Rider's Wife - made into the popular 1951 movie, I'd Climb Every Mountain. She published hundreds of stories, essays and reviews in magazines like Ladies Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post and Harpers, and was the first woman to go abroad as a war correspondent in World War I.

Program

For more information, contact the Georgia Center for the Book at 404-370-8450 ext 2225, or via E-mail.

© 2004, Georgia Center for the Book
c/o DeKalb County Public Library
215 Sycamore Street
Decatur, Georgia 30030
Last updated:  August 17, 2005