16 Authors at AOTC Book Fest at Johns Creek Arts Festival Oct. 15-16

When the Johns Creek Arts Festival returns Oct. 15-16, it will include a first: An inaugural author event featuring 16 Atlanta-area writers.

Book Fest, a new offering from Arts on the Creek, one of the festival’s founding partners, will feature fiction and nonfiction writers in a host of genres – mystery, thriller, romance, military, mainstream fiction and more. Many of the authors are award winners. Some are published for the first time. And all will have books for sale throughout the festival.

The AOTC Book Fest will give festivalgoers a chance to meet and talk with authors who, as the schedule below shows, will be appearing hourly in pairs at the AOTC tent during the weekend. Some writers signed up for multiple slots, giving readers several opportunities to get books signed. Others will be appearing just once.

As for this year’s authors, a variety are accomplished indeed, as a short list of their honors illustrates. Roger Johns won the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year Award for “Dark River Rising,” a detective/mystery. Rona Simmons has won two Military Writers Society Gold Medals in nonfiction and fiction, for “The Other Veterans of World War II” in 2020 and “A Gathering of Men” in 2022, respectively.

Three authors were 2022 Georgia Author of the Year Award nominees, including: Marilyn Baron for “The Romanov Legacy,” a romance; Jan Slimming for “Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park,” in history; and C. Matthew Smith, for “Twentymile,” a detective/mystery.

And several others have won other honors, including: Beverly Armento, whose “Seeing Eye Girl” was a 2022 Independent Publisher Book Award bronze winner for autobiography; and T.M. Brown and Bernard N. Lee Jr., both of whom have penned series that have been finalists for several awards.

For more information about all 16 authors, go to ArtsOnTheCreek.org.

The AOTC Book Fest, sponsored by the Atlanta Writers Club, A Novel Idea, Bookmiser and Appen Media Group, will be open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, and from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. While there is no physical address for the festival, it will be located directly across Hwy. 141 from the Atlanta Athletic Club, 1930 Bobby Jones Dr., Johns Creek, GA 30097.

Saturday, Oct. 15, schedule

• 10 a.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir• 10 a.m.: T.M. Brown – “Sanctuary” and “Testament” / Mysteries
• 11 a.m.: Roger Johns – “Dark River Rising” and “River of Secrets” / Crime Fiction
• 11 a.m.: Michael S. Pressman – “The Price of Freedom” and “The Genesis Project”/ Military, Crime, Action, Adventure
• Noon: Cynthia D. Jones – “The Melody of Marriage” / Christian Marriage
• Noon: Michael S. Pressman – “The Price of Freedom” and “The Genesis Project” / Military, Crime, Action, Adventure
• 1 p.m.: Beverly Armento – “Seeing Eye Girl” / Memoir
• 1 p.m.: Cynthia D. Jones – “The Melody of Marriage” / Christian Marriage
• 2 p.m.: Rona Simmons – “The Other Veterans of World War II” and “A Gathering of Men” / Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Military Nonfiction
• 2 p.m.: Jan Slimming – “Codebreaker Girls” and “Captured At Singapore” / Nonfiction WWII History
• 3 p.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir
• 3 p.m.: Jon H. Costales – “Visions of Redemption” / Science Fiction
• 4 p.m.: Beverly Armento – “Seeing Eye Girl” / Memoir
• 4 p.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir
• 5 p.m.: C. Matthew Smith – “Twentymile” / Crime, Thriller
• 5 p.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir

Sunday, Oct. 16, schedule
• 10 a.m.: Bob Dickinson – “Me, Jesus, a Beer and a Cigar” / Christian Progressive
• 10 a.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir
• 11 a.m.: Cynthia D. Jones – “The Melody of Marriage” / Christian Marriage
• 11 a.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir
• Noon: Beverly Armento – “Seeing Eye Girl” / Memoir
• Noon: Cynthia D. Jones – “The Melody of Marriage” / Christian Marriage
• 1 p.m.: Marilyn Baron – “The Romanov Legacy” / Romantic Suspense; and “The Case of the Missing Botticelli” / Cozy Mystery
• 1 p.m.: Jeremy Logan – “The Trigger Effect” and “Trinity” / Crime, Suspense, Mystery
• 2 p.m.: Robert Ratonyi – “From Darkness Into Light” / Memoir and Historic Narrative
• 2 p.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir
• 3 p.m.: Beverly Armento – “Seeing Eye Girl” / Memoir
• 3 p.m.: Robert Ratonyl – “From Darkness Into Light” / Memoir and Historic Narrative
• 4 p.m.: Mike Cobb – “The Devil You Knew” and “Dead Beckoning” / Historical Crime Fiction
• 4 p.m.: Bernard N. Lee Jr. – “A Look Back in Time” Volumes I and II / Memoir