The 2008 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2008, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 3rd and 7th streets from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The festival is free and open to the public. This is the 8th National Book Festival hosted by Mrs. Bush, the first coming just three days before 9/11.
Festival authors, illustrators and poets will discuss their work in pavilions dedicated to Children, Teens & Children, Fiction & Mystery, History & Biography, Home & Family and Poetry. PBS characters and NBA/WNBA players will appear at the festival, including NBA Legend and Hall of Famer Bob Lanier and players Chris Duhon and Ivory Latta. Each year, players participate in the festival by reading their favorite children’s books aloud with the help of students from local area schools as part of “NBA Cares.”
Noted Literary Fiction authors in attendance include Francine Prose, Richard Price, Marisa de los Santos, Geraldine Brooks, Salman Rushdie, and James McBride.
The Pavilion of the States, sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will highlight reading, literacy and library promotion activities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several American trusts and territories.
The Library of Congress Pavilion will feature a variety of family-centered activities illustrating the depth and breadth of the Library’s extraordinary collections available online. It will also offer a sampling of interactive activities available through the recently launched Library of Congress Experience and promote the joy of reading through its “lifelong literacy” campaign.
Downloadable podcasts of interviews with popular participating authors have been placed on the Library’s Web site.
The artist for this year’s festival is beloved children’s author and illustrator Jan Brett, whose poster of animals and birds on the National Mall will be available at the festival. Brett, who has written and/or illustrated more than 30 books and has more than 33 million books in print, will be among the authors and illustrators speaking in the Children’s Pavilion.
The 2008 National Book Festival is made possible with generous support from Distinguished Benefactor Target; Charter Sponsors AT&T and The Washington Post; Patrons the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the James Madison Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; and Contributors Barnes & Noble, the Kalima Foundation, the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union, Marshall and Dee Ann Payne, NBA/WNBA, PBS, Penguin Group (USA), Scholastic Inc. and US Airways.
The Junior League of Washington will again provide hundreds of volunteers, joining Library of Congress volunteers, in assisting those attending the National Book Festival.
