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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.