Organizers for the third annual Decatur Book Festival—and hormonal home-improvement enthusiasts across Atlanta—were bummed to learn last week that “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” heartthrob and Atlanta native Ty Pennington had to bow out of the Labor Day Weekend book-athon due to a scheduling conflict, said to involve a segment for Oprah Winfrey’s television show.
With big literary names like keynote speaker Billy Collins, Kathy Reich, Eric Jerome Dickey and many more to fall back on, you might be asking, what’s the big deal? “This is an inconvenience because promotional materials such as the festival programs have already been printed, and this may create some confusion for attendees,” said BDF Executive Director Daren Wang in a press release.
Festival folks say they’re working with the publishers of Pennington’s upcoming book “Good Design Can Change Your Life” to score an even bigger replacement. Meanwhile, we’re still grappling with the idea that the hammer-wielding hunk knows how to write. (Just kidding, Ty.)
Photo: Courtesy of Porter Novelli