Daren Wang Talks Life After The Decatur Book Festival: Patch Q&A

DECATUR, GA — As the AJC Decatur Book Festival approaches, co-founder and executive director Daren Wang has announced that he is stepping down later this year. Organizers are expecting more than 80,000 people at the event, which began in 2005 as a local celebration of the written and spoken word. Today, it is the largest independent book festival in the United States, with thousands of world-class authors and enthusiasts converging on historic downtown Decatur Square each year.

Wang's debut novel "The Hidden Light of Northern Fires," will launch during this year's festival, which runs Sept. 1 - 3. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Festival backers have nothing but praise for Wang, who, inspired by the South Carolina Book Festival more than a decade ago, organized a small team, including Tom Bell, Richard Lenz, Alice Murray, Bill Starr and Judy Turner, to help attract top-notch authors and literature lovers to what is largely considered one of the preeminent events in the U.S. book community.

At the inaugural festival in 2006, 125 authors were in attendance; this year more than 600 are expected, something many peers attribute to Wang's leadership.

“Daren has been a visionary leader,” AJC Decatur Book Festival board chair James Diedrick told ArtsATL. “He and his team have done a remarkable job creating and running what has become the largest independent book festival in the country. We wish Daren all the best as he launches his first novel at the festival this year and sets off on his book tour.”

Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett said that she is looking forward to Wang's book launch at the festival "as well as honoring him for his 12 years of service and thanking him officially for a job well done,” she told ArtsATL.

Festival organizers said that Wang's support over the past 12 years has been immeasurable. “He has built this amazing event that this city loves and that has brought attention to the literary community in Atlanta, and we want to continue to build on that,” Festival director Julie Wilson told the AJC.

Wang talked to Patch about a number of things pertaining to the literary world, including plans for a vast book tour immediately after the festival. Here is Patch's Q&A with Wang.

As you look back on the Decatur Book Festival, what would you say is your proudest achievement?

"I think it is probably the cohesiveness that has developed within the book and writing community here in Atlanta. Atlanta has always had pockets of literary activity, but the festival has helped to connect those people and different groups in ways that would have been hard to imagine 15 years ago. I think that elevates the writing community in important ways."

Now that you will step down as exec director of the DBF, do you have plans for any other venture?

"I am heading off on a 55-stop book tour immediately after the festival, and won’t really settle back down until January. I’m looking forward to exploring my options then."

Also, I see you just released a book, "The Hidden Light of Northern Fires" (which centers on a runaway slave's quest for freedom in the Union and romantic relationship with a frontierswoman). Can we expect other books from you as well, and if so, is there a particular genre you're fascinated with and want to explore?

"I have already started planning my next novel. I expect to stay with historical fiction for a while."

Much has been made about how technology will replace books and how computers will be the demise of book reading. Neither has happened. What do you attribute that to?

"We are inundated with technology and information on screens. For many of us, it’s how most of us work, how we play, how we talk to each other. Part of the pleasure of a good book is to be away from that for a while. When you have the entire world of information at your fingertips, sometimes what you really need is the simplicity of a comfortable chair, a good light, and the printed page."

"The Hidden Light of Northern Fires" is published by St. Martin's Press. See the schedule for The AJC Decatur Book Festival.

Image via Daren Wang