The 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival is Sept. 17-26, with live author conversations every day. On Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. ET, 35 video-on-demand programs will become available to watch anytime. This year’s Festival also features interactive presentations with Library of Congress experts, a national television special and related events on PBS, NPR podcasts, and author interviews on Washington Post Live. Check out Festival Near You to discover related events from local organizations.
NOTE: Using the “Add to Calendar” tool places individual events in your personal calendar. It does not constitute a reservation or ticket to the event.
Film, Video
Video On-DemandAvailable starting
September 17, 2021
10:00 am EDT Watch videos from 44 of this year’s participating authors, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Roxane Gay, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Michael J. Fox and Angie Thomas. See what they have to say about their latest works at the 2021 National Book Festival.
Tuesday
August 24, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with KERA, will host Silvia Moreno-Garcia to discuss “Velvet Was the Night” (Del Rey).
Wednesday
August 25, 2021
4:00 pm -
5:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
During the 2021 National Book Festival, educators and students have the opportunity to engage with authors like never before! This pre-National Book Festival webinar is the perfect opportunity for teachers and librarians to learn about this year’s Festival opportunities and share ideas about how the Festival events can be included in instructional planning.
Wednesday
August 25, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with South FL, PBS, will host Martha Wells to discuss "Fugitive Telemetry" (Tor) with Between The Covers host Ann Bocock.
Thursday
August 26, 2021
7:00 pm -
8:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with WTTW, will host Kelli Jo Ford to discuss “Crooked Hallelujah” (Grove) with Melodi Serna, executive director of the American Indian Center of Chicago.
Monday
August 30, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership DPTV, will host Brit Bennett to discuss “The Vanishing Half” (Riverhead).
Tuesday
August 31, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with MPT, will host Sarah Pearse to discuss "The Sanatorium” (Pamela Dorman).
Thursday
September 2, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with SoCal and KCTS, will host Viet Thanh Nguyen to discuss “The Committed” (Grove).
Wednesday
September 8, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with Kansas City PBS and Kansas City Public Library, will host Christopher Paolini to discuss “ To Sleep in a Sea of Stars” (Tor) with Kansas City Public Library Librarian Amanda Barnhart.
Sunday
September 12, 2021
6:00 pm -
7:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
“Open a Book, Open the World: The Library of Congress National Book Festival,” hosted by LeVar Burton, premieres Sunday, Sept. 12, at 6 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video app, and becomes available on the National Book Festival website on Monday, Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. ET.
Monday
September 13, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with WETA, will host Annette Gordon-Reed to discuss "On Juneteenth" (Liveright) with Kevin Young.
Wednesday
September 15, 2021
6:00 pm -
7:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with WGBH, will host Tana French to discuss "The Searcher" (Viking) with Brian O'Donovan.
Thursday
September 16, 2021
8:00 pm -
9:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
PBS Books, in partnership with GPB, will host Maria Hinojosa to discuss "Once I Was You" (Atria) with GPB President and CEO Teya Ryan.
Friday
September 17, 2021
11:00 am -
11:25 am
EDT
Online Only
Washington Post Live, in partnership with the Library of Congress National Book Festival, will host Michael J. Fox, author of “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality” (Flatiron), in conversation with Washington Post opinions writer Jonathan Capehart.
Friday
September 17, 2021
11:25 am -
11:55 am
EDT
Online Only
Washington Post Live, in partnership with the Library of Congress National Book Festival, will host U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, author of “Poet Warrior: A Memoir” (Norton), in conversation with Washington Post opinions writer Jonathan Capehart. Note: Event will immediately follow “Washington Post Live: Michael J. Fox.”
Friday
September 17, 2021
2:00 pm -
3:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
As part of a special collaboration between NPR and the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival, the TED Radio Hour podcast will feature Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds, author of "Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks” (Atheneum), in conversation with Manoush Zomorodi.
Friday
September 17, 2021
3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
As part of a special collaboration between NPR and the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival, the Short Wave podcast will feature Ambreen Tariq, author of “Fatima's Great Outdoors” (Kokila), in conversation with Emily Kwong.
Friday
September 17, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Kelli Jo Ford, author of “Crooked Hallelujah” (Grove), and Toni Jensen, author of “Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land” (Ballantine), discuss their new books with Nick Martin, the Indigenous Affairs desk editor at High Country News and a contributing editor at The New Republic.
Friday
September 17, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Eric Eyre, author of “Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic” (Scribner), and Patrick Radden Keefe, author of “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” (Doubleday), discuss their new books with Washington Post reporter Sari Horwitz.
Friday
September 17, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Sarah Frier, author of “No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram” (Simon & Schuster), and Anna Wiener, author of “Uncanny Valley” (MCD), discuss their new books with CBS News’ “60 Minutes+” correspondent Laurie Segall.
Friday
September 17, 2021
7:00 pm -
7:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden talks with actor and children’s literacy advocate LeVar Burton, host of the television special “Open a Book, Open the World: The Library of Congress National Book Festival” on PBS, about the power of reading, story and connection.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
12:00 pm -
12:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Jason Reynolds, Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, discusses his ambassador platform, GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story, and his award-winning book "Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks” (Atheneum), with teen interviewers Courtney Kim and Brandon Marshall.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
1:00 pm -
1:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Catherine Belton, author of “Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Joshua Yaffa, author of “Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition and Compromise in Putin's Russia” (Tim Duggan), discuss their new books with Jeff Pegues, chief justice and homeland security correspondent for CBS News.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
2:00 pm -
2:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Daniel Kahneman and Cass R. Sunstein, co-authors of “Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment” (Little, Brown), discuss their new book with New York Times Book Review writer and editor Gal Beckerman.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
3:00 pm -
3:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Elizabeth Hand, author of “The Book of Lamps and Banners” (Mulholland), and Alex Michaelides, author of “The Maidens” (Celadon), discuss their new books with NPR Books editor Petra Mayer.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Mary Roach, author of “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law” (Norton), and Suzanne Simard, author of “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest” (Knopf), discuss their new books with Sarah Kaplan, climate reporter for The Washington Post.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Patricia Engel, author of “Infinite Country” (Avid Reader), and Rivka Galchen, author of “Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), discuss their new books with Kevin Larimer, editor-in-chief of Poets & Writers.
Saturday
September 18, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Heather McGhee discusses her new book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” (One World), with Errin Haines, editor-at-large of The 19th and a contributor at MSNBC.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
1:00 pm -
1:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Katherine May, author of “Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times” (Riverhead), discusses her new book about coping with circumstances beyond your control with 7News On Your Side anchor Alison Starling.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
2:00 pm -
2:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Yiyun Li, author of “Must I Go” (Random House), and Douglas Stuart, author of “Shuggie Bain” (Grove), discuss their new books with Alexander Chee, author and contributing editor at The New Republic.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
3:00 pm -
3:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Matt Parker discusses his new book, “Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World” (Riverhead), with Roswell Encina, chief communications officer at the Library of Congress.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Joseph J. Ellis discusses “The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783” (Liveright) with philanthropist and National Book Festival co-chairman David M. Rubenstein.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Jennifer Ackerman, author of “The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent and Think” (Penguin), and David Allen Sibley, author of “What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing—What Birds Are Doing, and Why” (Knopf), discuss their new books with Joel Achenbach, science writer for The Washington Post.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Noé Álvarez, author of “Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land” (Catapult), and Maria Hinojosa, author of “Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America” (Atria), discuss their new books with María Elena Salinas, journalist and principal of MES Multi-Media LLC.
Sunday
September 19, 2021
7:00 pm -
7:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Elliot Ackerman and Adm. James Stavridis, co-authors of “2034: A Novel of the Next World War” (Penguin), discuss their novel with philanthropist and National Book Festival co-chairman David M. Rubenstein.
Monday
September 20, 2021
2:00 pm -
3:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
As part of a special collaboration between NPR and the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival, the Life Kit podcast will feature Eric Garcia, author of “We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation” (Mariner), in conversation with Laine Kaplan-Levenson.
Monday
September 20, 2021
3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
Look inside the covers and learn how books are constructed. The Library’s Conservation Division shows you how to identify the influences of historic book structures in the modern bindings of today.
Monday
September 20, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Kristen Arnett, author of “With Teeth” (Riverhead), and Raven Leilani, author of “Luster” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), discuss their new books with New Republic writer Jo Livingstone.
Monday
September 20, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Lawrence Wright discusses “The Plague Year: America in the Time of COVID” (Knopf) with philanthropist and National Book Festival co-chairman David M. Rubenstein.
Tuesday
September 21, 2021
2:00 pm -
3:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
As part of a special collaboration between NPR and the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival, the It’s Been a Minute podcast will feature Brandon Taylor, author of “Filthy Animals” (Riverhead), in conversation with Sam Sanders.
Tuesday
September 21, 2021
3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
You are an owner of copyright-protected material. Learn how writing a story, creating a work of art, composing or recording music, or simply taking a picture engages with copyright. Find out more about how this automatic right affects your work and what it covers. Learn about the U.S. Copyright Office and the work it does to encourage creativity.
Tuesday
September 21, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Kristin Hannah, author of “The Four Winds” (St. Martin's), and Maggie Shipstead, author of “Great Circle” (Knopf), discuss their new books with Washington Post book critic Ron Charles.
Tuesday
September 21, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Simon Winchester discusses “Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World” (Harper) with Osita Nwanevu, a contributing editor at The New Republic.
Tuesday
September 21, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Danielle Evans, author of “The Office of Historical Corrections” (Riverhead), and Charles Yu, author of “Interior Chinatown” (Pantheon), discuss their new books with Amy Stolls, director of Literary Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tuesday
September 21, 2021
7:00 pm -
8:00 pm
EDT
Coolidge Auditorium (LJ-G45A)
Adrienne Raphel, author of “Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them” (Penguin), and Will Shortz, author of “The New York Times Hardest Crosswords Volume 8” (St. Martin’s Griffin) and “The New York Times Super Sunday Crosswords Volume 10” (St. Martin’s Griffin), discuss crosswords with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro.
Wednesday
September 22, 2021
2:00 pm -
3:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
As part of a special collaboration between NPR and the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival, the Code Switch podcast will feature Kacen Callender, author of “King and the Dragonflies” (Scholastic), in conversation with Gene Demby.
Wednesday
September 22, 2021
3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
Beginning with early 20th-century livres d’artiste and concluding with contemporary graphic and book artists, Library curators discuss the many creative unions between art and the written word.
Wednesday
September 22, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Olivia Campbell, author of “Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine” (Park Row), and Janice P. Nimura, author of “The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine” (Norton), discuss their new books with journalist Melody Schreiber, editor of “What We Didn’t Expect: Personal Stories About Premature Birth.”
Wednesday
September 22, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Brit Bennett, author of “The Vanishing Half” (Riverhead), and Robert Jones Jr., author of “The Prophets” (Putnam’s), discuss their new books with Lauren Christensen, senior staff editor for The New York Times Book Review.
Wednesday
September 22, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Kai Bird, author of “The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter” (Crown); James Oakes, author of “The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution” (Norton); and David O. Stewart, author of “George Washington: The Political Rise of America's Founding Father” (Dutton), discuss their presidential biographies with Nancy Cordes, chief White House correspondent for CBS News.
Wednesday
September 22, 2021
7:00 pm -
7:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Avi Loeb discusses “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) with science journalist Sarah Scoles.
Thursday
September 23, 2021
3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
Let’s share a virtual moment with the Spider-Man origin story — which includes Stan Lee’s story and Steve Ditko’s art — from "Amazing Fantasy" #15 (1962). Look at selected images from the drawings and hear experts’ insights into the collaboration that led to the development of the teen superhero.
Thursday
September 23, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Hawa Hassan, author of “In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean” (Ten Speed), and Marcus Samuelsson, author of “The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food” (Voracious), discuss their new cookbooks with Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large at The Washington Post.
Thursday
September 23, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” (Harper), and Deesha Philyaw, author of “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies” (West Virginia University), discuss their new books with Karen Grigsby Bates, senior correspondent for NPR’s “Code Switch.”
Thursday
September 23, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Peter Godfrey-Smith discusses his new book, “Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), with New York Times Book Review writer and editor Gal Beckerman.
Thursday
September 23, 2021
7:00 pm -
7:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Rodney Scott, author of “Rodney Scott's World of BBQ: Every Day Is a Good Day” (Clarkson Potter), and Trisha Yearwood, author of “Trisha's Kitchen: Easy Comfort Food for Friends and Family” (Mariner), discuss their new books, cooking and community with Jummy Olabanji, co-anchor of NBC4’s "News4 Today" morning news show.
Friday
September 24, 2021
3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
Almost everyone who engages in genealogical research eventually comes across unexpected facts and details. The staff at the Library of Congress have collected resources to help researchers adjust to their new reality, decide whom to share their discoveries with and figure out the next step in their research. Join us in exploring the discoveries made possible by both traditional research and DNA.
Friday
September 24, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Julia Sweig, author of “Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight” (Random House), and Karen Tumulty, author of “The Triumph of Nancy Reagan” (Simon & Schuster), discuss their new books with Colleen Shogan, a senior vice president and the director of the David Rubenstein Center for White House History at the White House Historical Association.
Friday
September 24, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
David Nasaw, author of “The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War” (Penguin), and Sonia Shah, author of “The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move” (Bloomsbury), discuss their new books with CBS News’ “60 Minutes+” correspondent Enrique Acevedo.
Friday
September 24, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Alice McDermott, author of “What About the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and George Saunders, author of “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading and Life” (Random House), discuss their new books with Washington Post book critic Ron Charles.
Friday
September 24, 2021
7:00 pm -
7:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
francine j. harris, author of “Here Is the Sweet Hand” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Patrick Rosal, author of “The Last Thing: New & Selected Poems” (Persea), discuss their new works with Ydalmi Noriega, director of programs and community engagement at the Poetry Foundation.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
1:00 pm -
1:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Kekla Magoon, author of “Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People” (Candlewick), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Kekla Magoon’s video where she discusses her book.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
2:00 pm -
2:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Trung Le Nguyen, author of “The Magic Fish” (Random House), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Trung Le Nguyen’s video where he discusses his book.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
3:00 pm -
3:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Tahereh Mafi, author of “An Emotion of Great Delight” (HarperCollins), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Tahereh Mafi’s video where she discusses her book.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Traci Chee, author of “We Are Not Free” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Traci Chee’s video where she discusses her book.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Margot Livesey, author of “The Boy in the Field” (Harper), and Sue Miller, author of “Monogamy” (Harper), discuss their new books with New York Times Book Review editor Elisabeth Egan.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
P. Djèlí Clark discusses “A Master of Djinn” (Tor) and “Ring Shout” (Tor) with Amal El-Mohtar, science fiction and fantasy columnist for The New York Times.
Saturday
September 25, 2021
7:00 pm -
8:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
Nikki Giovanni discusses her new collection, “Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose” (William Morrow), with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
12:00 pm -
1:00 pm
EDT
Online Only
As part of a special collaboration between NPR and the 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival, the Alt.Latino podcast will feature Isabel Allende, author of “The Soul of a Woman” (Ballantine), in conversation with Felix Contreras.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
1:00 pm -
1:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Derrick Barnes, author of “I Am Every Good Thing” (Nancy Paulsen), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Derrick Barnes’ video where he discusses his book.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
2:00 pm -
2:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Rep. Sharice Davids, author of “Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman” (HarperCollins Kids), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Rep. Sharice Davids’ video where she discusses her book.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
3:00 pm -
3:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Jerry Pinkney, author of “The Little Mermaid” (Little, Brown), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Jerry Pinkney’s video where he discusses his book in conversation with Meg Medina.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
4:00 pm -
4:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Mindy Thomas, co-author of “Wow in the World: The How and Wow of the Human Body: From Your Tongue to Your Toes and All the Guts in Between” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Mindy Thomas’ video where she discusses her book with co-author Guy Raz.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
5:00 pm -
5:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Dan Gutman, author of “Houdini and Me” (Holiday House), answers your questions. Don’t forget to check out Dan Gutman’s video where he discusses his book.
Sunday
September 26, 2021
6:00 pm -
6:30 pm
EDT
Online Only
Claudia Rankine, author of “Just Us: An American Conversation” (Graywolf), and Phillip B. Williams, author of “Mutiny” (Penguin), discuss their new books with Kevin Young, editor of “African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song” (Library of America). Young is director of the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
