National Book Festival

Bibliophiles take note: you’ll want to time your visit to Washington DC, for the end of September, to coincide with the increasingly popular National Book Festival. Launched in 2001 by the Library of Congress and then-First Lady Laura Bush (herself a former librarian) to celebrate reading and lifelong literacy, the day-long event attracts more than 120,000 people and features scores of authors.

Held in several pavilions set up on the National Mall, the festival draws authors from all genres, who read from their work and happily sign books for legions of fans. Authors, illustrators and poets can be found in the Children, Teens & Children, Fiction & Mystery, History & Biography, Contemporary Life and Poetry & Prose pavilions. Children and families can also find reading-related activities in the Let’s Read America pavilions.

You can buy books at a sales pavilion run by Barnes & Noble, or visit the Pavilion of the States to find out about libraries, awards, book festivals, and authors back home.

Travel Tips

Check out the full list of authors at www.loc.gov/bookfest. As the actual date approaches, the Library of Congress will add speaking and signing times to each author’s bio, so if there’s someone you especially want to see you’ll know when to be where. On the site, you can also watch archived webcasts or download podcasts of past years’ authors.

The 11th Annual National Book Festival is on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10 am to 5:30 pm, and  Sunday, Sept. 25 from 1:00pm to 5:30 pm. This year’s theme is “The Library of Congress: Past, Present and Future.”