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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
