National Book Festival lineup announced

The Library of Congress announced today that dozens of best-selling authors will speak and meet the public at the 17th annual National Book Festival. This year’s festival will be from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. 

The lineup of authors, poets and illustrators already committed to attend includes:   

• Kwame Alexander, poet, educator and recipient of the 2015 Newbery Medal for “most distinguished contribution to American literature for children,” speaking with co-author Mary Rand Hess about their new book “Solo,” a young-adult novel written in verse. 

   

• International bestseller and literacy advocate David Baldacci discussing his latest novels, life and work.

• Two-time winner of the Newbery Medal and former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Kate DiCamillo, whose recent book is “Raymie Nightingale,” and current ambassador Gene Luen Yang, author of recently released “Superman,” “Secrets & Sequences” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

• The author of the wildly popular Outlander series, which has sold more than 28 million copies, Diana Gabaldon, sharing her latest book “Seven Stones to Stand or Fall,” which is set for publication in June.

• Michael Lewis, the author of “Moneyball,” “The Big Short,” and “The Blind Side”—all of which have been made into award-winning films. His most recent book is “The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds.” 

• Pulitzer-Prize-winning nonfiction writer, cancer physician and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee, discussing his latest work “The Gene: An Intimate History,” a look at what happens when “we learn to ‘read’ and ‘write’ our own genetic information.”

• Margot Lee Shetterly, acclaimed author of “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped the Space Race.” Her novel is the basis for the Oscar-nominated movie of the same name.

• Bestselling author of “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” and cultural commentator J.D. Vance.

The National Book Festival is made possible by the generous support of private- and public-sector sponsors who share the Library’s commitment to reading and literacy, led by National Book Festival Co-Chairman David M. Rubenstein. Charter Sponsors include the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Washington Post and Wells Fargo; Patron sponsors, The James Madison Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; Contributor-level sponsors the National Endowment for the Humanities and Scholastic Inc.; and, in the Friends category, Mensa Education and Research Foundation. Those interested in supporting the National Book Festival can contact the Library at devofc@loc.gov.

Other authors who have already agreed to participate in the 2017 National Book Festival include:

• Young People’s Stages: Kelly Barnhill, Melissa de la Cruz, Chris Van Dusen, Kathleen Glasgow, Marie Lu, Nathaniel Philbrick, Reshma Saujani, Tanya Lee Stone, Sabaa Tahir, Nicola Yoon

• Fiction and Poetry: Megan Abbott, Elliot Ackerman, Chris Bohjalian, Dan Chaon, Ernest Gaines, Julia Glass, Juan Felipe Herrera, Peter Ho Davies, Katie Kitamura, Lisa Ko, Hari Kunzru, Ha Jin, Alice McDermott, Karin Slaughter, Elizabeth Strout, Colm Toíbín, Scott Turow, Jesmyn Ward, Don Winslow, Juan Gabriel Vásquez

• History and Biography: Sidney Blumenthal, Helene Cooper, Peter Cozzens, Adm. James Stavridis, Ronald White; plus a panel on the 100th Birthday of John F. Kennedy, with Steven Levingston, Kathy McKeon, and Thomas Oliphant

• General Nonfiction: Roz Chast, Michael Eric Dyson, Roxane Gay, Mark Kurlansky, Dava Sobel, Tim Wu, Ibram X. Kendi; plus a panel on Ernest Hemingway, with Mary Dearborn, Paul Hendrickson, and Nicholas Reynolds

Additional authors—including the Main Stage lineup—and other details of the festival will be announced in the coming months. More information and updates are available on the National Book Festival website at www.loc.gov/bookfest/.   

Later this summer, the National Book Festival App will be updated with complete presenter, schedule and wayfinding information for iOS or Android smartphones. Follow the festival on Twitter @librarycongress with hashtag #NatBookFest.  Subscribe to the National Book Festival blog here: https://go.usa.gov/xXkJn .

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.  Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.