National Book Festival 2009 (3955673275)

The National Book Festival is a literary festival in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

organized and sponsored by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

, founded by

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...

and James H. Billington in 2001.

Background

In 1995 the First Lady of Texas

(a former librarian) founded the Texas Book Festival with Mary Margaret Farabee and other volunteers. The goal of the festival was to honor Texas authors, promote the joys of reading, and benefit the state’s public libraries. The first Texas Book Festival took place in November 1996.

History

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

worked with

Librarian of Congress The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, for a term of ten years. In addition to overseeing the library, the Libra ...

James H. Billington to create the National Book Festival. At a news conference announcing the inaugural event Billington said, "We must all try, in every way we can, to send the message that reading is critical to our lives and to the life of our nation." The first National Book Festival took place on September 8, 2001 at the Library of Congress and on the east lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The event featured more than 60 award-winning authors, illustrators and storytellers from across the country including Stephen Ambrose,

Natalie Babbitt Natalie Zane Babbitt (née Moore; July 28, 1932 – October 31, 2016) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Her 1975 novel ''Tuck Everlasting'' was adapted into two feature films and a Broadway musical. She received the ...

, Robin Cook, Billy Collins, Sue Grafton,

Larry L. King Larry L. King (January 1, 1929 – December 20, 2012) was an American playwright, journalist, and novelist, best remembered for his 1978 Tony Award-nominated play ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'', which became a long-runni ...

, David Levering Lewis, David McCullough,

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...

Katherine Patterson Katherine Womelsdorf Paterson (born October 31, 1932) is an American writer best known for children's novels, including '' Bridge to Terabithia''. For four different books published 1975-1980, she won two Newbery Medals and two National Book A ...

, Richard Peck,

Gary Soto Gary Anthony Soto (born April 12, 1952) is an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Life and career Soto was born to Mexican-American parents Manuel (1910–1957) and Angie Soto (1924-). In his youth, he worked in the fields of the San Joaqui ...

, and

Scott Turow Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novel ...

. Additional activities included book-signings, musical performances, storytelling, panel discussions, demonstrations of illustration and new technologies. Fifteen NBA players attended as representatives of the National Basketball Association's national reading campaign, "Read to Achieve." The first National Book Fair attracted between 25,000 and 30,000 visitors. The 2002 Festival featured more than 70 authors, illustrators and storytellers from across the country and hosted more than 45,000 visitors on the West Lawn of the

U.S. Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at ...

and the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

. A new addition to the Festival was the Pavilion of the States which highlighted regional books. The 2003 National Book Festival attracted a crowd of more than 60,000 to the National Mall. Two new pavilions, Home & Family and Poetry, were added to the event. The 2008 National Book Festival attracted a crowd of more than 120,000 visitors and about 70 well known authors, illustrators and poets. Participating authors included:

Tiki Barber Atiim Kiambu "Tiki" Barber (; born April 7, 1975) is an American former football running back who played for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Virgi ...

, Mary Brigid Barrett, Jan Brett, Geraldine Brooks, Sandra Brown, Dan Chiasson,

Eleanor Clift Eleanor Irene Clift (''née'' Roeloffs; born July 7, 1940) is an American political journalist, television pundit, and author. She is a contributor to MSNBC and blogger for '' The Daily Beast''. She is best known as a regular panelist on '' The ...

Philippa Gregory Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is '' The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Rom ...

, Steven Kellogg, Katherine Paterson,

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

Bob Schieffer Bob Lloyd Schieffer (born February 25, 1937) is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all f ...

, Jon Scieszka,

Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law an ...

, R. L. Stine, and Gordon S. Wood. Laura Bush served as honorary chair of the festival through 2008. From 2009,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

served as honorary co-chairs. 2022 National Book Festival (52343954805)

After 12 years on the National Mall, the National Book Festival moved indoors to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in 2014. More than 200,000 people attended the 2013 National Book Festival and following that event, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

implemented new protocols and requirements to avoid damage to the grass on the National Mall. Stephen Lorenzetti, the Park Service’s deputy superintendent for planning at the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said “There are new procedures to make sure that the grass survives. This can make it more expensive for events to take place... We worked closely with the library to allow the festival to continue at a reasonable cost. We showed them how they might use the walkways and the roadways. But in the end, the library decided that it was more affordable to move to a different venue. We respect their decision.” Jennifer Gavin, project manager of the Library of Congress National Book Festival, confirmed the reason for the change of venue, saying “We spent months working with the Park Service to see if we could make this work... But when we looked at the costs — and they were considerable — we decided that the festival-goers would be better served by moving it into the convention center.” The move indoors allowed the Festival to expand into nighttime events, cookbook demonstrations, and screenings of film adaptions of books. The Literary Director currently in charge of all programming of the Festival is author Marie Arana, former editor in chief of Book World at the Washington Post and now Literary Director of the Library of Congress. This festival has gone virtual since 2020.

Poster art

Each year the Festival commissions an artist to design an event poster. * Lu Ann Barrow (2001) * Carol Dyer (2002) * Joey Manlapaz (2003) * Floyd Cooper (2004) *

Jerry Pinkney Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addresse ...

(2005) *

Gennady Spirin Gennady Spirin (born 25 December 1948) is a Russian painter and children's book illustrator. A graduate of the Surikov School of Fine Art in Moscow and the Moscow Stroganov Institute of Art, he is noted for his unique style of watercolor illustra ...

(2006) *

Mercer Mayer Mercer Mayer (born December 30, 1943) is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his '' Little Critter'' and '' Little Monster'' series o ...

(2007) * Jan Brett (2008) * Charles Santore (2009) * Peter Ferguson (2010) * Jon J Muth (2011) * Rafael López (2012) *

Suzy Lee Suzy Lee ( ko, 이수지; born February 9, 1974) is a Korean picture-book illustrator and author. She is critically acclaimed as an artist who explores the pleasures and tensions that lie between reality and fantasy. She is also known for her re ...

(2013) * Bob Staake (2014) *

Peter de Sève Peter de Sève is an American artist who has worked in the illustration and animation fields. He has drawn many covers for the magazine '' The New Yorker''. As a character designer, he worked on the characters of ''A Bug's Life'', '' Finding Nemo' ...

(2015) * Yuko Shimizu (2016) * Roz Chast (2017) * Gaby D'Alessandro (2018) * Marian Bantjes (2019)

References

External links

National Book Festival
official site
National Book Festival poster gallery
(Bush White House archive) {{Portal bar, United States, Books, Children's literature Library of Congress Laura Bush Book fairs in the United States Festivals in Washington, D.C. Recurring events established in 2001 Literary festivals in the United States Annual events in Washington, D.C.

Background

History

Poster art

See also

References

External links