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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.