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.
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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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.