Peachtree City will hold its second annual literary festival this weekend, September 19-21.

The weekend festivities will kick-off on Friday night at 7 p.m. with Beans, Books & Blues Coffee House featuring local musicians Tom Watts, Daniel Piar and Jimmy Bass; original poetry by Pat Butler, Margo Gamble, Chris Jansen, Sara De Luca and others; trivia; and of course, coffee. Beans, Books, & Blues Coffee House will be held on the main level at the Peachtree City Library.

Saturday’s line up at city hall includes motivational speaker “The Spark Plug,” who will present “Public Speaking 101” at 1 p.m., followed by The Citizen’s own Mike Boylan at 2 p.m. Boylan will talk about the experience of writing his very first novel, “Time Killer,” in 30 days during National Novel Writing Month – a feat he plans to attempt again this year. (See side bar for more about Boylan’s novel.)

Author Michael George of Newnan will discuss his book “The Melon Boys” at 3 p.m. A coming-of-age story, “The Melon Boys” was largely influenced by George’s own experience working alongside black sharecroppers and migrant workers in the watermelon fields of southern Alabama and South Carolina in 1968.

Mark Schweizer and Fran Stewart will be presenting at city hall immediately following Michael George. Schweizer, author of the Liturgical Mysteries series, which includes “The Alto Wore Tweed” and “The Tenor Wore Tapshoes,” has sold more than 40,000 copies of his books from his own St. James Music Press, which has published church music since 1992.

Stewart is a free-lance editor during the day and a mystery writer at night. Her Biscuit McKee mystery series, set in a small Georgia town, features a middle-aged librarian and Marmalade, the orange and white library cat. Stewart and an assortment of rescued cats live beside a creek on the back side of Hog Mountain, northeast of Atlanta. She donates a portion of all proceeds from her book sales to the Humane Society and the Gorilla Foundation.

Saturday night at 7 p.m. Dr. Elliot Engel will entertain festival-goers at city hall with his enlightening lecture, “A Light History of the English Language.” Engel hails from Raleigh, N.C., where he has taught literature courses at N.C. State and Duke University. Engel will give listeners a humorous glimpse into the origins and development of our native language with enough wit and trivia thrown in to delight the high school crowd as well as literature lovers of any age.

Sunday is the event everyone has been waiting for – New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods will appear at city hall in Peachtree City at 2 p.m. for a Q&A session, followed by a reception and book signing next door at the library. Books-A-Million will handle book sales of his newest book, “Hot Mahogany,” on site during the event only.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.peachtree-city.org/library or call 770-631-2520.

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