The ExploreDecatur Book Festival is gearing up to celebrate its 20th anniversary with exciting keynote events, highlighting the importance of community in the literary world, and introducing a new bookstore created by Lost in the Letters.
Lost in the Letters was founded by Scott Daughtridge DeMer, an author whose novella “Then Then Then” was recently published by Kernpunkt Press. Growing up in Acworth and studying psychology in Kentucky, DeMer initially aimed to become a social worker. However, his time in New York City after college ignited his passion for writing, spurred by a community of determined, DIY writers he encountered there.
When DeMer moved to Atlanta in 2012, he recognized a need to cultivate a similar community for writers and set out to do just that. His efforts have paid off as people have enthusiastically gravitated toward the organization’s vision. “The motivation was really to make space for people to come together and learn from each other, to be inspired by each other, to be in conversation so that we can all deepen our investment in our own creative practices,” he shared.
Lost in the Letters has hosted an impressive roster of writers, including Roxane Gay, Jericho Brown, Leesa Cross-Smith, Carmen Maria Machado, George Singleton, and Sabrina Orah Mark, at its various events. The new bookstore will exclusively stock the works of these authors and those whose writings have been featured at Lost in the Letters events, creating an intentionally curated selection.
DeMer explained, “We bring in people who are renowned and who have won awards and who have published books that have been well received, as well as folks that may not have a book but have been publishing their work in journals and magazines, to some who don’t have any publications. All those folks, creative writing is their primary work. They’re doing the work to push the boundaries on their own individual and personal levels and using their practice to push the boundaries of the wider creative writing realm as well.”
A key initiative of Lost in the Letters is to provide studio space for writers, recognizing that unlike visual artists and musicians, writers often lack dedicated spaces to work. Currently, limited studio space is available at the Art Papers office in Little Five Points, but the new location in Candler Park will expand these offerings significantly.
DeMer highlighted this need for space, saying, “Writers just have this expectation that we’ll work from home, but that can be a distracting place, that can be a not super productive place. So, the idea was to make a space for people who are writing and reading to be able to get out of their houses, to be able to come have a focused work time and then be able to commune with people doing similar work as well.”
At present, all Lost in the Letters events are offered free of charge, although DeMer is in the process of establishing a more structured model as a nonprofit under section 501(c)(3). He is leaning towards a membership-based system to sustain the organization.
Upcoming events hosted by Lost in the Letters include a reading and workshop in collaboration with Trees Atlanta on August 14, as well as the much-anticipated Letters Festival taking place in November.
DeMer articulated the overarching goal of the organization, stating, “Our mission is to give writers access and opportunities to harness their own creative impulses. Our success is measured by depth rather than breadth.”
He elaborated on this unique approach, explaining, “Growth for us has always looked like connecting with our audience on a deeper level and not always on a wider level. Success for us doesn’t look like we have 1,000 or 10,000 people coming to all of our events. We know that we exist within a niche, but we want to maximize that niche that we are currently living in to do the best work that we can to make sure it’s high quality, to make sure that it’s accessible, and to make sure that people can find themselves in it.”
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