Books+Bites Engages the Community

Books+Bites 2025

In June, local author Han­nah S. Palmer dis­cussed her recent book, The Pool is Closed: Seg­re­ga­tion, Sum­mer­time, and the Search for a Place to Swim with a packed crowd at the Callan­wolde Fine Arts Cen­ter in June. She shared local pool his­to­ry and poli­cies, as well as images of var­i­ous pools past and present from her exten­sive research. 

The first Books+Bites event of 2025 with Matt Hogan, author of Foot in Mouth Dis­ease: Mus­ings of an Unfil­tered Physi­cian, is fea­tured in The Cham­pi­on. Click here to read the story.

Books+Bites 2024

Thanks to a part­ner­ship with the Callan­wolde Fine Arts Cen­ter, the DeKalb Library Foun­da­tion host­ed three Books+Bites author events in 2024. In June, Lynn Cullen, author of The Woman with the Cure, shared the often over­looked sto­ry of Dorothy Horstmann and her role in the race for the polio cure. In August, Sara A. H. But­ler recount­ed an intrigu­ing scan­dal involv­ing Asa Can­dler as she talked about her book For­tune and Fol­ly: The Weird and Won­der­ful Life of the South’s Most Eccen­tric Mil­lion­aire. In Octo­ber, Kate Kennedy, author of Once Upon a School: A Sto­ry of Dream­ing Big, Falling Hard, and Bounc­ing Back, reflect­ed on her time start­ing a school for the unhoused and the ups and downs asso­ci­at­ed with that endeav­or. More than 50 peo­ple attend­ed each event which also fea­tured small bites and drinks. Sup­port­er Beth G. attend­ed all three events and expressed her appre­ci­a­tion for the Foun­da­tion host­ing such pro­grams. ​“I enjoy hear­ing direct­ly from authors about their lat­est work,” she said. ​“And these events are always fun with a live­ly audi­ence who ask insight­ful ques­tions.” Read our fall newslet­ter to learn more.