Local literary festival includes UNG faculty
Article By: Denise Ray
Coming off a two-year hiatus, the annual Dahlonega Literary Festival will be held March 4 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Dahlonega Baptist Church, located at 234 Hawkins St. in Dahlonega. The University of North Georgia Foundation serves as one of the sponsors.
"This year the festival showcases writers, offers workshops for would-be writers, and presents special panels honoring the legacy of two north Georgia writers, both members of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame," Sharon Thomason, featured authors chair for the festival, said.
Described as a day of various events appealing to fans of fiction and non-fiction writing, the literary event will continue to host its traditional luncheon with authors with Bill Curry as a return luncheon speaker in the UNG Dining Hall Banquet Room. Tickets to the luncheon are $20 per person and are available on the event website.
People ask me what separates this festival from others, and it's because it's so intimate.
Dr. Donna Gessell
UNG professor emerita of English and festival chairperson
"He was so inspirational, and we invited him to come back and inspire us again," Dr. Donna Gessell, festival chairperson and UNG professor emerita of English, said.
This year will see 38 authors, 17 regional writers and 21 featured authors, several of whom have connections to UNG. Regional writer Linda Roberts-Betsch is a nursing professor and vice president for academic affairs emerita.
Dr. Ben Wynne is a UNG professor of history while C.T. Salazar is UNG's 2023 visiting author.
"People ask me what separates this festival from others, and it's because it's so intimate," Gessell said. "People can rub elbows with the authors and have lunch with them. It's people having discussions about topical issues, whether it's writing technique or genre or something like that."
This year's event will include a "We Remember Terry Kay" panel. Kay was a frequent participant throughout the festival's history who passed in December 2020. An additional panel will focus on Byron Herbert Reece, a north Georgia mountain poet. Reece received national attention for his writing, winning two Guggenheim Awards and a Pulitzer nomination. In addition to several volumes of poetry, Reece wrote two novels. He died in 1958 at age 40.
"Each panel has its own little thread that is a commonality between the authors or among the authors," Gessell said.
Rick Bragg will be the festival's featured speaker from 5-6 p.m. Bragg, a much-loved southern journalist and author of 12 books, also writes a monthly column for Southern Living magazine and often contributes to Garden and Gun magazine. Tickets to Bragg's talk in the Dahlonega Baptist Church are $20 per person and are available on the event website.
Generosity from local businesses has helped lower costs for the 18 years the festival has been celebrated, including donations of hospitality for some authors.
"Support comes from the community, the university and volunteers who are faculty, staff, students, and retired faculty and staff," Gessell said. "It's wonderful. It takes a lot of people to put on the festival. The results is always worth the effort."
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