The Book Worm has hosted several fantastic authors over the years. We continue to host authors from all over the country for signings, discussions, and readings. We keep our customers updated on all events through our website, our monthly newsletter and our Facebook fan page. Check-in often; we have all kinds of goings-on here! If you missed any signing opportunity, often our authors will leave copies in the store, already signed, so please continue to support them.
We will leave previous pics from earlier in the year as we have most books available from many of our guest authors! Check back often as we add new authors to the schedule and quite often announce additions a little late as a surprise!
I Shimmer Sometimes, Too Book Tour- Porsha Olayiwola, with Special Guests Christine Ristaino & Ryan Manley” from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on December 20th
Joining us on the northwest side of Atlanta, Porsha Olayiwola is stopping by with a reading and signing of her newest book!
Poet, Porsha Olayiwola will read and perform pieces from her debut poetry collection I Shimmer Sometimes, Too; published by Button Poetry.
Porsha is from the future! Black, poet, hip-hop feminist, womanist: Porsha is a native of Chicago who now resides in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the artistic director at MassLEAP, a literary youth organization. Olayiwola is an MFA Candidate at Emerson College and is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston.
Her debut poetry collection soars with the power and presence of live performance. These poems dip their hands deep into the fabric of black womanhood, pulling out all of its threads. This book establishes Porsha O firmly in the lineage of black queer poetics, pulling equally from Audre Lorde and Danez Smith. This is a book of gentle breaking and inventive reconstruction. This is a book of self-care, and community-care–the pursuit of building a world that will keep you alive.
Additionally, we are having Ryan Manley and Christine Ristaino join us to sign copies of their books!
Ryan Manley, a popular Instagram poet, releases his second poetry collection- Silence. Ryan Manley’s second poetry collection contains both some of his longer and shorter poems. They include topics about love and other things.
Christine Ristaino also is returning with her powerful read of All The Silent Spaces
In September 2007, Christine Ristaino was attacked in a store parking lot while her three- and five-year-old children watched. In All the Silent Spaces, Ristaino shares what it felt like to be an ordinary person confronted with an extraordinary event―a woman trying to deal with acute trauma even as she went on with her everyday life, working at a university and parenting two children with her husband. She not only narrates how this event changed her but also tells how looking at the event through both the reactions of her community and her own sensibility allowed her to finally face two other violent episodes she had previously experienced. As new memories surfaced after the attack, it took everything in Ristaino’s power to not let catastrophe unravel the precarious threads holding everything together.
January 25th, 2020 from 1:00 to 3:00PM Meet Kenni York with her newest novel, Noah’s Rights
Nearly every two minutes in America someone is sexually assaulted. Olivia Collins, an urban author residing in the heart of the hood, knows this better than anyone. Working hard to repress her own issues, Olivia encounters Noah, an underprivileged foster kid who views himself as a number; a statistic. As the awkward duo gets to know one another, secrets about Noah begin to unfold while unraveling Olivia’s resolve and forcing her to deal with her own demons. No one understands her sudden and unexplainable connection to or concern for the young boy, but their relationship runs deeper than anyone around her could ever understand given her undisclosed past. Olivia’s certain that she and Noah share a bond solidified by a common pain making them nearly one in the same, for she too is a statistic in her own way.
About the Author
In 2018 Kenni York celebrates ten years of literary success. This decade of acheivements includes main stream publication and distribution of several of her titles, a book-to-film project entitled At Least I Didn’t Kill him which debuted in 2017 and is now available nationwide on DVD, a host of awards and accolades, as well as a library, The Kenni York Reading Corner, created in 2017 which is funded and maintained by Kenni. The purpose of the Kenni York Reading Corner, located in Atlanta, is to provide reading materials to children within a low-income environment. With over twenty titles in print ranging from self-help, urban fiction, murder mystery and more, titles resting on shelves across America, a successful literary firm, an advocacy that she lives and breathes, and the shoe line, Kenni York is determined to make the name, the BRAND, Kenni York synonymous with strength, courage, and confidence.
Please read the below to see SOME OF the great authors that have been here this year and stop by to see if we have any copies of their books left. We usually have a few signed copies left behind.Previous signings from this year’s Farmers Market booth!
May 30th from 4-8 PM
Shanna Bosarge
Devian, the first in the Elemental Union Series.
Shanna Bosarge’s breakout novel introduces Sterling Rin’Ovana — a complex, beautiful, and dangerous woman who forges toward a powerful future despite her unknown past.Resentful of the silver eyes inherited from a mother she never knew, Sterling must learn to put aside the wayward glances and the whispered insults of those who see her as a monster. Silver eyes that also betray her as a Devian, and the hunted quarry of the Severon.Born in the midst of a battle between her Veillen father and graekull demons and the blood of her dying mother, Sterling is secreted away by Hemi — a trusted family servant. She grows in peace and safety until the Severon find her, years later. As they destroy the people and the places she grew to love, Sterling battles their constant push to capture her, as well as her own regret over the trail of destruction that follows her escape.No amount of Hemi’s training could prepare Sterling for the relentless pursuit of the Severon. As she flees, Hemi’s dying words ring in her ears — urging her to find shelter in the land of Kai’Vari, the place of her birth. While she hopes to find a place to finally call home, she returns to the millennia old battle between man and demon, as well as fear and mistrust from those who should instead protect her. She also finds — as her Devian powers emerge — that she may either be the key to ending the ancient battle, or the catalyst to the world’s destruction.
T. M. BROWN
Sanctuary: A Legacy of Memories
Newly retired publishing executive, Theo Phillips, and his wife, Liddy, decide to leave the shadows of Atlanta behind and return to their South Georgia roots in time-lost Shiloh. While making new friends, Theo’s interest in a memorial launches him smack dab in the middle of scandal and dark secrets. As Theo digs deeper into the mysterious fire that stole the town’s landmark courthouse and a town hero, he and Liddy’s retirement dreams take a turn that could unravel both them and the idyllic life they and many others look for in Shiloh.
Testament: An Unexpected Return
In this sequel to Sanctuary, A Legacy of Memories, Theo and Liddy are finally sinking deep roots into their new hometown of Shiloh. Friendships are blossoming as Liddy ponders an offer to become the new art teacher at Shiloh High while Theo sends off his manuscript for Jessie’s Story to be published. Life appears to be settling down, but ominous shadows from the town’s past herald more tragedy lies ahead in little old Shiloh.
Also Joining us is Linton C. Hopkins
Linton will be signing East Lake, Where Bobby Learned To Play which is a PERFECT gift for golfers and those that love Atlanta history. His first book sold out and is out of print so don’t miss this opportunity to get your first edition that just came out! This is the sequel to “Where Bobby Learned to Play,” which was published in 1996 and 1998. It is history up to the present that includes the dramatic comeback of Tiger Woods in the 2018 Tour Championship. Tiger joins golfers who grew up at East Lake, Arnold Palmer as he plays in the 1963 Ryder Cup and Jack Nicklaus on a visit a few months earlier.
One reviewer says: This is an excellent history of the East Lake Golf Club (f/k/a The Atlanta Athletic Club) where many great golfers learned the game. Much of the history is written by way of six biographical sketches of famous golfers, including Bobby Jones, Alexa Stirling, Charlie Yates, and Charlie Harrison. Each is a delightful, entertaining personal account of these golfers and the importance of East Lake to them and their golfing careers. The book also gives a fond remembrance of Bob Jones during his last years, filled with poignant recollections. East Lake is now the centerpiece of The East Lake Foundation, which has provided resources for the rehabilitation of the surrounding neighborhood and the construction of a nearby charter school, helping to turn around the lives of many disadvantaged local boys and girls. The book is beautifully produced with excellent illustrations, and is highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of golf or of Atlanta, or by anyone interested in how golf can be used to improve a local community.
June 13th from 4-8 PM
Linda Joyce, Melissa Klein and Rachel W. Jones
These great authors will be here with their newest book, Fireworks in Jubilee!
June 20th from 4-8 PM
DEBORAH MANTELLA
My Sweet Vidalia
On July 4, 1955, in rural Georgia, an act of violence threatens the life of Vidalia Lee Kandal Jackson’s pre-born daughter. Despite the direst of circumstances, the spirit of the lost child refuses to leave her ill-equipped young mother’s side.
For as long as she is needed―through troubled pregnancies, through poverty, through spousal abuse and agonizing betrayals―Cieli Mae, the determined spirit child, narrates their journey. Serving as a safe place and sounding board for Vidalia’s innermost thoughts and confusions, lending a strength to her momma’s emerging voice, Cieli Mae provides her own special brand of comfort and encouragement, all the while honoring the restrictions imposed by her otherworldly status.
Vidalia finds further support in such unlikely townsfolk and relations as Doc Feldman, Gamma Gert and her Wild Women of God, and, most particularly, in Ruby Pearl Banks, the kind, courageous church lady, who has suffered her own share of heartache in their small Southern town of yesteryear’s prejudices and presumptions.
My Sweet Vidalia is wise and witty, outstanding for its use of vibrant, poetic language and understated Southern dialect, as well as Mantella’s clear-eyed observations of race relations as human relations, a cast of unforgettable characters, an in-depth exploration of the ties that bind, and its creative perspective. My Sweet Vidalia is a rare, wonderful, and complex look at hope, strength, the unparalleled power of unconditional love, and a young mother’s refusal to give up.
SHERYL PARBHOO
The Unexpected Daughter
Three people’s lives intersect in a tumultuous yet redeeming way that none of them could have ever predicted. Jenny is a young professional from the South with an upbringing she wants to forget. She meets Roshan, an Indian immigrant who has moved to the United States with his mother, Esha, to escape family ghosts. With strong cultural tradition, Esha has devoted her entire life to her only child, both for his own good and for her personal protection from a painful past. Roshan understands his role as his mother’s refuge, and from an early age, he commits himself to caring for her. But when Jenny and Roshan embark on a forbidden, intercultural relationship, all three get tangled into an inseparable web—betrayal, violence, and shame—leaving them forced to make choices about love and family they never wanted to make while finding peace where they never expected to look.
June 27th from 4-8 PM
Rebecca L. Marsha
When The Storm Ends
Beth thought her violent childhood was something she left in the past—until she met Erin. Now the abuse of her step-father has returned in terrifying nightmares.
Beth became a child psychologist so she could help children who are broken and hurting, but Erin, the fifteen-year-old who killed her father, is different. If Beth can’t reach her and find out why she did it, Erin will spend the rest of her childhood behind bars. To most people, it looks simple—Erin is either crazy or evil, but when Beth looks into Erin’s haunted eyes, she’s sure that something terrible was done to this girl. Erin, however, isn’t talking.
Beth believes Erin might open up to someone with whom she feels a kinship. Of course, Beth knows she shouldn’t share her own past with a patient, but the clock is ticking toward Erin’s trial, and Beth is out of options.
Little does Beth know that taking this terrifying leap will not only reveal the truth about Erin, but will rip Beth’s past wide open as well—and a connection between them that will shake Beth to the core.
William Gilmore
William is a retired Atlanta Police Detective (27 years on APD) and a Vietnam era veteran serving for nearly 7 years in the Military Police and so, of course, he writes about what he knows! His engaging detective novels are set in Atlanta are are titled
Blue Bloods & Black Hearts
Gold Badges & Dark Souls
Blue Knights & White Lies
He also has the beginning of a new series that is very historical, slightly paranormal and detective
“Caution in the Wind” Book One: Partnerships and Book Two is in being penned as well and is titled The Treasure Seekers
His newest book is science fiction is “No Space For Justice” It’s about an Atlanta Police Homicide Detective kidnapped by an alien and taken to a world with no crime to solve an eight-hundred-year-old murder.
July 4th from 4-8 PM
All The Silent Spaces
New Release and Preview Book Launch!
In September 2007, Christine Ristaino was attacked in a store parking lot while her three- and five-year-old children watched. In All the Silent Spaces, Ristaino shares what it felt like to be an ordinary person confronted with an extraordinary event―a woman trying to deal with acute trauma even as she went on with her everyday life, working at a university and parenting two children with her husband. She not only narrates how this event changed her but also tells how looking at the event through both the reactions of her community and her own sensibility allowed her to finally face two other violent episodes she had previously experienced. As new memories surfaced after the attack, it took everything in Ristaino’s power to not let catastrophe unravel the precarious threads holding everything together.
Moving between the greater issues associated with violence and the personal voyage of overcoming grief, All the Silent Spaces is about letting go of what you think you know in order to rebuild.
Ryan Manley
A Dose of Reality and Silence ( newly published works!)
Ryan Manley, a popular Instagram poet, releases his first poetry collection- A Dose of Reality. Divided into three sections: Love?, Heartbreak, and Strength., Ryan Manley tells a story about falling in love, dealing with heartbreak, and gaining the strength to love again.
June 4th from 4-8 PM
Join us to meet Benjamin Puckett, with his Guide to help students win in the classroom, leadership and everyday life!
Winners’ Options: Win or Learn
Some would say that winning is a word. Others would say that WINNING is merely numbers on a scoreboard. I have learned that being a winner is a mindset, a mentality–but more than that it is a way of life.
Winners Options: Win or Learn, is a book designed to help young leaders build a strong framework for understanding themselves, architect their own long-term success, and teach them how to WIN on a daily basis.This book gives principles on how to stay motivated, identify negative relationships and build positive ones, the art of effective communication, and the importance of being able to self-assess.
July 11th from 4-8 PM 2 authors
Keon Coates
Chain Agent
When Keon Coates was a young man on the verge of entering the “real world” after high school, his plans had nothing to do with the military. With a scholarship to Georgia Southern University and plans of dorm life in his head, he visited a US Navy recruiter simply to appease his best friend’s wishes—an indifferent move that ultimately changed his life’s course forever.
This is the wisdom-infused tale of how a young, modern American found his calling in the most unlikely of places, and in doing so, earned the respect, strength, and wizened philosophy of the few who take the sacred oath and commit “to excellence and the fair treatment of all.”
We love this review!
“What a motivating book! This type of literature is what America needs in everyone’s hands right now. An inspiring account of how pure drive and determination can transcend communities and people. I have no military background but this book inspired me in so many ways. It also awakened a new sense of pride of our Men and Women in uniform. Looking forward to a sequel or anything this author writes next.”
YM Georges also will be joining us with her new Mystery, Damaged People: Damage 1 : The Shoekeeper
Outcast Homicide Detectives TJ Brown and Dawn Whitley have been assigned to the newly formed Serial Killer Task Force Liaison Unit. Both Detectives have the reputation of not playing well with others.After sitting around waiting for an assignment Detective Brown accepts a missing person report from a distraught mother. The woman’s 22 year old Special Needs child never returned home from school. The mother is convinced that something terrible has happened to her daughter. Police find the girl’s shoeless bludgeoned body in a lot not far from the subway. Before Detectives Brown and Whitley can figure out what happened to the young woman, the shoeless body of a second victim turns up.
August 15th from 4-8 PM
Jason Wetzel will be signing copies of Georgia POW Camps in World War II. Jason authored this book along with Dr. Kathryn Roe Coker and it is releasing at the end of July 2019
During World War II, many Georgians witnessed the enemy in their backyards. More than twelve thousand German and Italian prisoners captured in far-off battlefields were sent to POW camps in Georgia. With large base camps located from Camp Wheeler in Macon and Camp Stewart in Savannah to smaller camps throughout the state, prisoner reeducation and work programs evoked different reactions to the enemy. There was even a POW work detail of forty German soldiers at Augusta National Golf Course, which was changed from a temporary cow pasture to the splendid golf course we know today. Join author and historian Dr. Kathryn Roe Coker and coauthor Jason Wetzel as they explore the daily lives of POWs in Georgia and the lasting impact they had on the Peach State.
Join us to meet Teikoa Washington. She has co-authored her new book and will have it available at the author booth located at The Powder Springs Farmers Market, sponsored by The Book Worm Bookstore. She will be sharing a great title with you about relationships!
About the book:
What if I told you that you take on the traits of those with whom you spend the most time?
Experts have determined that toxic friendships are just as damaging as toxic love relationships. And healthy friendships are vital to our emotional and spiritual growth and well-being.
The authors of this anthology have shared their lessons hoping it’ll inspire you to not only not only choose but become a better friend.
August 29nd from 4-8 PM (Rescheduled date)
Ever wonder how Rough and Ready got its name? Or what Stonesthrow is a stone’s throw from? And surely the story behind Climax can’t be…that thrilling, can it? The curious Georgian can’t help pondering the seemingly endless supply of head-scratching place names that dot this state. Luckily, the intrepid Cathy Kaemmerlen stands ready to unravel the enigmas—Enigma is, in fact, a Georgia town—behind the state’s most astonishing appellations. Cow Hell, Gum Pond, Boxankle and Lord a Mercy Cove? One town owes its name to a random sign that fell off a railcar, while another memorializes a broken bone suffered by a cockfight spectator. And just how many place names were inspired by insolent mules? Come on in to find out.
Join us to meet another new author! Habiba N. Shaw’s memoir of her life’s journey, Marks Behind the Stones, gives the reader much to enjoy and much to ponder. Her engaging style and her vivid use of detail allows the reader to experience the joys and sorrows, the challenges and successes as she moved through cultures and learned from them. Seeing Western culture through the eyes of a woman who grew up in a Muslim culture in Bangladesh provides the readers with a unique lens through which to observe ourselves. We have an opportunity to learn not only of the writer and her own experiences in her odyssey but also to learn of ourselves and our own culture as we view ourselves through that unique perspective that Habiba Shaw’s memoir gives us. Learning about ourselves and our own journeys as we learn of the writer may be the most important goal of reading, and Habiba Shaw’s book has succeeded in that goal.
September 12th Meet Todd DeFeo with recent release Western & Atlantic Railroad
This title should be of great interest to our history and local Georgia crowd! Come meet him at The Powder Springs Farmers Market author booth from 4-8 PM.
The State of Georgia chartered the Western & Atlantic Railroad in 1836. The railroad aided in the development and growth of many communities between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. In constructing the railroad, workers created a winding route that cut its way across the North Georgia landscape. During the Civil War, both armies used this vital artery, and it was the setting for one of the war’s most iconic events, the Great Locomotive Chase. The state still owns the Western & Atlantic and has leased it since 1870. The line remains an essential part of North Georgia and is the backbone of the region’s industry. As Atlanta ponders its transportation future, it is important to remember that without the Western & Atlantic, Atlanta would not be the city it is today.
“You’ll never be able to run again.” From running half marathons to being the sickest person in the hospital, Maria Papalia-Meier fought the river of death, and won. Life changing moments, amputations, and negative thoughts refused to keep her down. With her rock-hard stubbornness, positive self-empowerment and persistence, she grabbed hope and unflinching faith to face the life handed to her.
Her story offers an honest, tough-love approach to defeating pre-determined opinions, and self-imposed limitations. She refused to give up or give in. Maria Papalia-Meier is a runner.
She has awoken stronger…better.
This is her story.
3 authors signing on September 26 from 4-8 PM
Akila McConnell, signing copies of newly released A Culinary History of Atlanta
Atlanta’s cuisine has always been an integral part of its identity. From its Native American agricultural roots to the South’s first international culinary scene, food has shaped this city, often in unexpected ways. Trace the evolution of iconic dishes like Brunswick stew, hoecakes and peach pie while celebrating Atlanta’s noted foodies, including Henry Grady, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nathalie Dupree. Be transported to the beginnings of notable restaurants and markets, including Durand’s at the Union Depot, Busy Bee Café, Mary Mac’s Tearoom, the Municipal Market and the Buford Highway Farmers Market. With fourteen historic recipes, culinary historian Akila Sankar McConnell proves that food will always be at the heart of Atlanta’s story.
Just released in late spring, this book will have you thinking about food in a whole new way. Come spin a wheel for prizes while getting qnswers to some fasinating facts!
Ryan Manley will be signing copies of newest release, Silence
Ryan Manley, a popular Instagram poet, releases his second poetry collection- Silence. Ryan Manley’s second poetry collection contains both some of his longer and shorter poems. They include topics about love and other things.
Russell Holbrook signing Heroin is the Answer: A Memoir of What I Can Remember
This review says it all: Wow! What an amazing, horrifying, magical, hopeless, redemptive story. I could not stop reading this raw, true, and honest story of what it feels like to be chained to an opiate addiction.
Russell Holbrook is from a good Baptist home, a traditional nuclear family, where he was raised with love and given every opportunity that a healthy young man could hope for. But the chemicals in his brain didn’t quite mix and flow the way they were supposed to. By the time he was twenty-one years old, in the summer of 1997, his inner and outer life were spiraling downward in a vortex of depression, alienation, addiction, and reckless behavior. He needed help. He needed hope. He needed an answer. And then he found it, only it wasn’t what he assumed it to be.
This is the true life story of how a happy-go-lucky, beer-swilling, pot-smoking Christian rocker sought to destroy his life, how he succeeded, how he failed, and where he is now.
October 10th Another new release! Residents of Oakland Cemetery by By Janice McDonald
The first person buried at Oakland was laid to rest in May 1850, a month before the land was purchased by Atlanta to become its city cemetery. The fast-growing municipality eventually expanded the burial grounds to include 48 acres. Since then, what is now known as Historic Oakland Cemetery has become the final home to more than 70,000 residents. Among those are celebrated politicians, authors, and athletes and those whose impact has been felt but who are not as well recognized. A few of those residents include Gordon Burton Smith, who helped build the Panama Canal; Andre Steiner, who created the master plan for Stone Mountain; and Sally Connally Hardie, who helped run the National Trust of Scotland. They rest among gardened paths in elaborate mausoleums, exceptional funerary art, humble headstones, and sometimes unmarked graves.
Just a few past signings from 2018
Always something going on in the store, just keep an eye on our facebook page!
We have had a great experience with film crew from Marriage Boot Camp, the Hip-hop edition at our store! Waka Flocka and his daughter shot a scene in the store as they shared a love of reading and a special father daughter bonding before the wedding renewal of vows episode was filmed!
We just got word that the 2 part airing of Waka Wedding episode (Waka & Tina Tie the Knot) is airing on March 21st & @28th. We just can’t wait to see the end results!
#wakaflocka #shopthebookworm #buylocal #marraigebootcamp