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Famed Authors To Participate in Eighth Annual National Book Festival

The 2008 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by Mrs. Laura Bush, will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, rain or shine, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 3rd and 7th streets. The festival is free and open to the public.

Among some 70 authors and illustrators participating this year are Tiki Barber, Marc Brown, Warren Brown, Kimberly Dozier, Arthur Frommer and Pauline Frommer, Philippa Gregory, Steven Kellogg, Brad Meltzer, Salman Rushdie, Bob Schieffer, Daniel Schorr, Alexander McCall Smith, Paul Theroux, Dionne Warwick and recently named Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan. Jon Scieszka, a children's book author recently named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Librarian of Congress, will be among the authors presenting in the Teens & Children's Pavilion.

"I invite you, your friends and your family to join us on Sept. 27 as we all celebrate our shared love of reading," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "Come and be a part of this wonderful national experience."

"There are activities for all ages at the National Book Festival," said Mrs. Bush. "Readers can explore genres from history and mystery to romance and cookbooks. Children can meet their favorite storybook characters. And visitors can learn about the extensive resources offered by the Library of Congress."

The festival authors, illustrators and poets will talk about 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. 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."

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.

Presentations by young poets and artists will be a new feature in the Teens & Children Pavilion. Each of the K-12 students presenting will be a winner in the River of Words environmental poetry and art contest sponsored by the Library's Center for the Book.

A presentation by four of the more than 100 authors and illustrators who contributed to the volume "Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out," sponsored by the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, will be featured in the Teens & Children Pavilion. Those writers are Mary Brigid Barrett, Steven Kellogg, Katherine Paterson, and Jon Scieszka. (The book, with an introduction written by David McCullough, is published by Candlewick Press, 2008.)

Downloadable podcasts of interviews with popular participating authors will be placed on the Library's Web site at www.loc.gov/bookfest.

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 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.