Bookpleasures.com welcomes as out guest Joy Pope. Joy is the Director of the Decatur Book Festival

Joy holds a dual-genre MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She previously earned a Master’s degree in the Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, famous for its Great Books curriculum, and she has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. Prior to joining the festival, she was the Journalism Educator at the Andrew P. Stewart Center’s after-school studio program that serves the children of Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood. She has lived in Decatur with her husband and two daughters since 2006.

Norm: What trends in the book world do you see and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?

Joy: It’s a time of change for the publishing industry. COVID has completely altered the way authors promote their books. Now, instead of book tours with authors traveling from city to city, they are staying home and doing virtual events.

Book sales are down and independent bookstores are struggling. The necessary shift in perspective about diversity and inclusion is an obvious catalyst for change.

In this regard, I’m glad for change--not just because it’s past time, but because I ache for new and more original content and a diversity of perspectives gives us that. But I’ve been struck, too, by the shift in my own reading habits during the pandemic. A year ago, I was reading nonfiction -- books about genetics, the opioid crisis, politics. Now I just want fiction. I want to escape the news. If I’m representative of the norm, I wonder if we’ll see a shift toward fiction. 

Norm: What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today?

Joy: When I became the interim director of the Decatur Book Festival, which is one of the largest independent book festivals in the country, I had no idea that our amazing event would be profoundly and dramatically changed by COVID-19.

Almost every industry has had to pivot during the pandemic, but festivals are difficult to translate virtually. On top of that, we didn’t have much time to plan for it. We basically had five months to take a vibrant, festive literary event and create a virtual experience. It took the help of many people to pull it off.

Here we are, just a couple of weeks away from the first day of the festival, and I marvel about how far we’ve come. Leading the team and working with a cross-section of partners has given me a real sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. The hard part has not begun, but I am excited to rise up to meet the challenge.   

Norm: When and why have you become interested/involved in the Decatur Book Festival?

Joy: This is my third year with the festival. I came in as a part-time assistant program manager, then spent a year as program director, and now I’m holding the reins. 

Norm: What is the festival and how long has it been in existence? How is it planned and organized each year? What are its goals and how popular is the festival?

Joy: This is our 15th year and it’s become one of the largest independent book festivals in the country. As many as 60,000 people turn out for the physical festival and the most frequent complaint is that the lines are too long and it’s impossible to attend all the events you want because there are so many interesting events.

For years it was planned and organized by a mostly volunteer staff, but we are shifting toward a more professional model now. For our upcoming virtual festival, we invited 15 authors who presented with us before and were among the most popular. We let each of the 15 authors curate their event however they wanted, so it’s turned out to be a wonderfully rich and organic lineup.

The core of this year’s festival -- celebrating literature and its power to effect change -- is the focus because all the extras, like food trucks, exhibitors, music, etc., aren’t accessible. It’s the distilled version of the Decatur Book Festival, and I’ve had fun with the distillation process. 

Norm: What is the most important thing that people don't know about the festival that they need to know?

Joy: First and foremost, it’s all free. Our children’s and teen and culinary programs are iconic--really the best of the best. Our pool of moderators and interviewers is full of high-quality talent, including Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters, university professors, field experts, chefs, authors, and artists. At last year’s festival, there were 118 moderators and interviewers and I was as proud of their lineup as I was of the featured authors. We’re a thoughtful organization and our programming is pretty rich. 

Norm: What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for those people who visit the festival?

Joy: I want people to be moved, inspired, and delighted. I want the books and authors and conversations to ignite original thinking in the attendees. I want it all to make the world better. 

Norm: Please describe your role in the festival and what do you hope to accomplish?

Joy: I am the interim executive director so I’m at the helm. For this year, our main goal is to get through the virtual festival without the digital platform crashing. I hope to raise enough money through philanthropic efforts to be able to bring back the physical festival as soon as the pandemic is under control.

Norm: What are the challenges the festival faces including Covid-19?

Joy: Everything has been a challenge to the festival this year. Switching to digital programming has been a huge learning curve for all of us. In late February, I wrote a friend and asked what the words were to describe seeing a video on Facebook. “Livestream” or “webcasting” he suggested. It’s mind-boggling, really.  Festivals don’t fund themselves, so figuring out how to raise money has been a challenge. And we are doing all of this from within a quarantine!

Norm: How will you be marketing and selling the festival to the public?

Joy: We partner with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the local radio station, WABE; we have a robust social media campaign planned; and we’re getting help from the marketing departments of all our partners, including Emory University and Agnes Scott College and the Dekalb County Library System. 

Norm: Why is the promotion of independent book authors important?

Joy: People need to read stories so they can know what’s in other people’s heads, and so they can escape their own. All kinds of art makes life more livable. I can’t imagine life without books. 

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about the festival and how one can participate?

Joy: You can go to our WEBSITE and sign up for any of our festival events. It starts September 4th and runs through the month to October 4th. It’s all free. You just have to download the Crowdcast software and sign up for events and then settle in for a month-long program featuring some of the most interesting and influential authors of the time. 

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with the Festival