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Festival Information

The 23rd annual Library of Congress National Book Festival will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, August 12, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (doors open at 8:30 a.m.). The event is free and open to the public. A selection of programs will be livestreamed online and videos of all programs will be available shortly after the Festival. Attendees may expect enhanced safety and security measures when entering the Convention Center.

Moderators

The inspiring conversations at the 2023 National Book Festival are led by more than 40 moderators and interviewers, including journalists and media professionals from The Washington Post and NPR as well as ABC News, CBS News, Kirkus Reviews, The Los Angeles Times, NBC4, The New York Times, PBS Books and Semafor. Moderators also include librarians, literary experts and cultural leaders.

  • Kit Ballenger

    Kit Ballenger, Ph.D., is a Washington, D.C., area youth services librarian and literary consultant with Help Your Shelf. She nurtures literacy-rich environments that sustain joy and build lifelong readers. Ballenger’s KidLit projects include work for nonprofits, including Pride and Less and Prejudice and National PTA; cultural institutions, including The Met; and educational entertainment, such as the award-winning podcast “Wow in the World.” She appears regularly on satellite radio as the Kids Place Live librarian-in-residence. Her book reviews can be found at Shelf Awareness, in Booklist and on Instagram. 

  • Erek L. Barron

    Erek L. Barron is the United States Attorney for Maryland and the chief federal law enforcement official in the state. Before his current role, Barron was a partner at the law firm of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP and also served as president-elect of the Maryland State Bar Association. From 2015-2021, he served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, where he co-authored bipartisan legislation focused on healthcare and criminal justice reform. He earned an English degree from the University of Maryland at College Park. Barron then obtained his law degree from The George Washington University Law School and earned a master’s degree in law with a focus on international criminal law and national security from Georgetown University Law Center.

  • David Begnaud

    David Begnaud is the Emmy Award-winning lead national correspondent for CBS Mornings, the national broadcast that airs weekdays on CBS. He first made a name for himself as the disaster guy. Where there was a crisis, Begnaud was there to report: hurricanes, volcanoes, mass shootings. He has traveled the country covering it all for CBS News. His coverage of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico won him the prestigious George Polk Award for public service as well as international acclaim for consistently reporting on the suffering that U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico were enduring in the aftermath of the storm. Begnaud's use of social media to cover that catastrophe turned him into a trusted voice for the underserved and vulnerable. He continues to use his platforms to expose injustice. In the years since Maria, Begnaud's passion has evolved into telling the stories that unite us. His empathetic and compassionate style distinguishes his storytelling which highlights human struggle and triumph. Begnaud, as lead national correspondent for CBS Mornings, was part of the team that won a national Emmy Award for outstanding live news program. He joined CBS News in 2015 and is currently based in New York City. He's also a contributor to the magazine show “48 Hours.”

  • Carolyn Belefski

    Carolyn Belefski is a professional creative, entrepreneur and humorist. She publishes original comics and illustrations, including her comic strip “Curls.” She is co-creator and artist of the comic books “Black Magic Tales,” “French Fry Club” and “The Legettes.” Her projects range from working on Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time” comic book to commissioned comics for the Obama administration White House to illustrations for Clorox. Belefski’s work has been published in magazines like Ranger Rick, Virginia Living and USA Weekend. Belefski is a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators member and currently serves as Washington, D.C., chapter chair of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS). In 2020 she conceived and orchestrated the NCS “Activity Book” featuring over 50 creators with a cover by Sergio Aragonés, which she colored. She has worked on a variety of award-winning anthology projects, including “Mine!,” “Rise: Comics Against Bullying” and “District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington, D.C.,” and served as editor of Magic Bullet, a large format comics newspaper. In addition to comics, Belefski designs and produces wearable art such as bandanas, enamel pins and more. She was nominated for the Kim Yale New Talent Award from Friends of Lulu and was recognized as a runner-up for best visual artist from Washington City Paper.

  • David Betancourt

    David Betancourt writes about all aspects of comic book culture for The Washington Post. He has written several Miles Morales adventures for Marvel Comics and is the author of "The Avengers Assembled" from Marvel/DK publishing.

  • Gina Chua

    Gina Chua is executive editor at Semafor, a new global news startup. She joined Semafor in May 2022 as part of the founding team led by Ben Smith and Justin Smith. Prior to joining Semafor, she was executive editor at Reuters; the editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post and The Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong; a deputy managing editor at The Wall Street Journal in New York; a foreign correspondent in Singapore, Manila and Hanoi; and a television and radio journalist in Singapore. A native of Singapore, Chua transitioned in late 2020, making her one of the most senior transgender journalists in the industry.

  • Anya Creightney

    Anya Creightney is a program specialist in the Literary Initiatives division of the Library of Congress. In her work at the Library, she administers the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature program, working closely with the National Ambassador and the program’s external partner, Every Child a Reader. As part of Literary Initiatives’ larger mandate, she works closely on the U.S. Poet Laureate projects, the National Book Festival, year-round programs including the Live! at the Library event series and more. Trained as a poet, she holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and spends oodles of time reading to her young kids.

  • Ashley Dickerson

    Ashley Dickerson is a professional librarian at the Library of Congress, cataloging and acquiring materials from Finland and the Baltics. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Maryland, with concentrations including biological anthropology and archaeology. When she is not working with Estonian and Finnish material at work, she enjoys watching anime and reading exciting nerdy books.

  • Sasha Dowdy

    Sasha Dowdy was born in Russia and raised in Japan. During her Master of Library Science program at the University of Maryland iSchool, she did a field study at the Library of Congress—and has been there ever since. At the Library, she serves as head of literary programming for children and teens, runs the Bookmarked blog and wears a variety of other hats. Her areas of interest are children's and young adult literature, comics and graphic novels.

  • Roswell Encina

    Roswell Encina is the chief communications officer at the Library of Congress.

  • Austin Ferraro

    Austin Ferraro is a teen librarian with a background in academic libraries, a brain full of ADHD-fueled ridiculous ideas and too many books to read. He works at Loudoun County Public Library in northern Virginia and lives nearby with his spouse and their small menagerie.

  • Daniela Galarza

    Daniela Galarza is a staff writer for the food section at The Washington Post who also writes "Eat Voraciously," a newsletter offering easy dinner recipes, cooking tips and inspiration. A former restaurant pastry chef, Galarza has been writing about food and cooking for more than 10 years. Before joining The Washington Post, she was a features editor at Serious Eats, senior editor at Eater.com and deputy food editor at Los Angeles magazine. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, New York magazine, Wall Street Journal and other publications. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a certificate in pastry arts from the International Culinary Center in New York. After studying pastry and bread making in Paris and central France, she worked as a pastry chef and in product development in New York and Los Angeles before entering journalism.

  • Juanita Giles

    Juanita Giles is the founder and executive director of the Virginia Children's Book Festival, an organization that inspires reading and promotes literacy among young people through book giveaways, community workshops, and an annual three-day event that brings together thousands of schoolchildren—many of them underprivileged—and top authors and illustrators working in young people's literature. A lifelong lover of books, Giles is a passionate and forceful advocate for access and diversity in storytelling. She lives on a book-filled farm in Southside Virginia with her husband and three children.

  • Robin Givhan

    Robin Givhan is the senior critic-at-large for The Washington Post with a focus on politics, race and the arts. Prior to her current role, she was the fashion critic, covering the news, trends and business of the international industry; she also covered first lady Michelle Obama. In 2006, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her fashion criticism. She's also the author of "The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled Into The Spotlight And Made History.”

  • Megan Halsband

    Megan Halsband is a reference specialist in the serial and government publications division of the Library of Congress, where she has worked with the Library’s comic book collection for over 12 years. She has worked to ensure the Library collects underrepresented formats, subjects and creators via the Small Press Expo Collection as well as comics-related web archiving collections and other digital collections. She has worked frequently with other divisions across the Library to curate exhibits, develop collections and expand knowledge of the Library’s comic collections.

  • Stephanie Handy

    Stephanie Handy is a collection development librarian for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Library of Congress. She has a master’s degree in library science from the University of Maryland and currently serves as the chair of the American Library Association’s Reading List Award committee.

  • Carla Hayden

    Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on Sept. 14, 2016. Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, was nominated to the position by former President Barack Obama. Prior to this, she served, since 1993, as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. Hayden was a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board, and she was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993. Hayden was president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004. In 1995, she was the first African American to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school center for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counseling.

  • Linda Holmes

    Linda Holmes is one of the hosts of NPR’s podcast “Pop Culture Happy Hour.” She is also the bestselling author of the novels “Evvie Drake Starts Over” and “Flying Solo.” She used to be a lawyer, but tries not to think about it. She lives with her photogenic dog, Brian, in Takoma Park, Maryland.

  • Steve Inskeep

    Steve Inskeep is co-host of NPR's “Morning Edition” and “Up First”—the most popular radio news program in the U.S. and one of the most popular podcasts. He's also the author of four books, including “Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in Divided America.”

  • Amy Joyce

    Amy Joyce has been a journalist for what feels like her entire life. She has been with The Washington Post for more than 20 years, currently in the features section, editing and writing for On Parenting. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, two teen sons and Rosie the Wonder Dog. She is a lifelong reader and lover of all things literature both for children and adults.

  • Crosby Kemper

    Crosby Kemper is the sixth director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). He was commissioned by the White House on January 24, 2020, following his confirmation by the United States Senate. Kemper is a dedicated advocate for education and learning for people of all ages and backgrounds. He came to IMLS from the Kansas City Public Library, where as director, he established the library as one of the city’s leading cultural destinations and a hub of community engagement. Kemper also served as chair of the board of directors of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, which supports open, affordable broadband connections for local community organizations. Under Kemper’s leadership, IMLS created the REALM (REopening Archives, Libraries and Museums) project using CARES Act funds, a partnership to directly respond to the lack of information on COVID-19 specifically for library and museum materials and spaces, as well as to research protocols and procedures for reopening. 

  • Angie Kim

    Angie Kim is a Korean immigrant, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, and author of the international bestseller and Edgar Award winner “Miracle Creek,” which has been translated into over 20 languages and named a Best Book of the Year by Time, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews and The Today Show. Her second novel, “Happiness Falls,” is forthcoming from Hogarth/Random House in September 2023.

  • Megan Labrise

    Megan Labrise is the editor-at-large of Kirkus Reviews. She is the executive producer and host of “Fully Booked,” a weekly podcast featuring author interviews and reading recommendations, and a past president of the National Book Critics Circle. She lives in New York.

  • Andrew Limbong

    Andrew Limbong is a correspondent for NPR's “Culture Desk” and is the host of NPR's “Book of the Day” podcast, which rounds up the week's best author interviews from the network.

  • Shelly C. Lowe

    Shelly C. Lowe is chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Lowe is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. From 2015 to 2022 she served as a member of the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory body to NEH, an appointment she received from former President Obama. Lowe’s career in higher education has included roles as executive director of the Harvard University Native American program, assistant dean in the Yale College dean’s office and director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University. Prior to these positions, she spent six years as the graduate education program facilitator for the American Indian studies programs at the University of Arizona.

  • Kahîn Mohammad

    Kahîn Mohammad is a Kurdish-American content creator, lover of books and former Library of Congress employee. When he is not judging books, he can be found posting baked goods to make Nigella Lawson jealous, hiking photos and other content cringe enough to bring “shame on the family name” (his mother’s words—not his) on Twitter.

  • Heather-Marie Montilla

    Heather-Marie Montilla has worked in the nonprofit sector and libraries for over two decades, making a positive impact in arts, cultural, educational and community-building arenas. Having joined PBS Books as their library bureau chief in fall 2018, she is now the national director and has interviewed more than 125 writers. In addition, she is a faculty member at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University for their arts and cultural/entertainment management programs. Having been an executive director for eight years, Montilla has a wide range of experience in management, finance, strategic planning, marketing and fundraising. Montilla holds a master’s in public administration from Columbia University, a master’s in library and information science from Wayne State University and a bachelor’s from Duke University. She lives near Chicago and is married with four children, a dog and a bird.

  • B.A. Parker

    B.A. Parker is co-host of NPR's “Code Switch,” the show about race and identity. Prior to joining “Code Switch,” she was co-host and lead producer at “The Cut” podcast with New York Magazine. In a previous life, Parker was a film professor at Morgan State University and Stevenson University, where she forced 19-year-olds to watch “Point Break” and “Face/Off.” She found her way to a production fellowship with the radio show “This American Life,” which she still can't believe happened. She has also been a guest host of NPR's “It's Been a Minute” and has produced for NPR's “Invisibilia,” Gimlet's “Heavyweight” and WNYC's “Nancy.” In 2019, she was selected for the Third Coast Radio Residency at Ragdale. Originally from Baltimore, Parker currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. She once held an elevator door for Werner Herzog and won’t shut up about it.

  • Alexa Patrick

    Alexa Patrick (she/her) is the programs director of Shout Mouse Press, a nonprofit writing program and publishing house committed to amplifying the voices of young people of color. Patrick’s debut poetry collection “Remedies for Disappearing,” was published by Haymarket Books in June 2023. In spring 2023, she made her stage production debut as Un/Sung in the opera “We Shall Not Be Moved” (directed by Bill T. Jones). Patrick's work can be found in publications including Adroit, CRWN Magazine and “The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic.”

  • Jeff Pegues

    Jeff Pegues is CBS News' chief national affairs and justice correspondent based in Washington, D.C., and is the host of the CBS News podcast “America: Changed Forever,” available on all podcast platforms. Since joining CBS News in 2013, Pegues has led the network's coverage of some of the biggest stories of the last decade and has become one of the preeminent journalists on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. His latest book, "Kompromat: How Russia Undermined American Democracy," investigates how Russian President Vladimir Putin's hackers poked into U.S. voter databases and what is happening now to shore up election systems in states across the country. Pegues has also provided extensive reporting on the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the conflict between the Black community and police, authoring "Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between Police and the Black Community." He is the recipient of multiple Emmy Awards and a Sigma Delta Chi Award, and was part of a team that won an Edward R. Murrow Award. Prior to CBS News, he worked at WABC-TV in New York and WBAL in Baltimore, and anchored newscasts in Miami.

  • Ayesha Rascoe

    Ayesha Rascoe is the host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” and the Saturday episodes of “Up First.” Prior to her role as host, Rascoe was a White House correspondent. She covered three presidential administrations, gaining a reputation for her sharp questioning in the White House briefing room. Before joining NPR, Rascoe spent the first decade of her career at Reuters, rising from a news assistant to an energy reporter to eventually covering the White House. She graduated from Howard University in 2007 with a bachelor’s in journalism.

  • Jason Reynolds

    Jason Reynolds is a No.1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award honoree, a Printz Award honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King Award honors and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include “All American Boys,” “When I Was the Greatest,” “The Boy in the Black Suit,” “Stamped,” “As Brave as You,” “For Every One,” the Track series, “Look Both Ways,” “Stuntboy, in the Meantime,” “Miles Morales: Spider Man,” “Ain’t Burned All the Bright,” “My Name Is Jason. Mine Too.” and “Long Way Down,” which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award Honor. He has appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah, “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” “CBS This Morning” and “Good Morning America.” He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People Master of Fine Arts program and lives in Washington, D.C.

  • Jason Rezaian

    Jason Rezaian writes for The Washington Post’s opinions section. Previously he was The Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief from 2012 to 2016. In July 2014, he was arrested by Iranian authorities and imprisoned for 544 days until his release in January 2016. Rezaian’s memoir, “Prisoner” was published in January 2019 by Anthony Bourdain Books, an imprint of Ecco Books, which he adapted with Crooked Media and A24 as a nine-episode narrative podcast series called “544 Days.”

  • David M. Rubenstein

    David M. Rubenstein is the author of “How to Invest,” “How to Lead,” “The American Experiment” and “The American Story.” He is co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group. Rubenstein is chairman of the boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Gallery of Art. He is an original signer of the Giving Pledge, a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the Museum of Modern Art’s David Rockefeller Award. He is the host of “Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein” and “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” both on Bloomberg TV. 

  • Maria Sacchetti

    Maria Sacchetti covers immigration and the Department of Homeland Security for The Washington Post. She is originally from Lawrence, Massachusetts.

  • Abigail Sears

    Abigail Sears is currently a junior at Phillips Exeter Academy. Her greatest passion has always been reading and she enjoys sharing everything about books with others. For four years, she has been a dedicated member of the Flume/Isinglass Award committee in the state of New Hampshire and she is an involved teen board member with the New Hampshire Poetry Society. After working remotely at the Library of Congress for the past two years, she is eager to participate in person and attend the 2023 National Book Festival!

  • Colleen Shogan

    Colleen Shogan became the 11th Archivist of the United States in May 2023. Most recently, Shogan served as senior vice president and director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association. She previously worked in the United States Senate and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress. Shogan was the vice chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and the chair of the board of directors at the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation. She taught at Georgetown University in the government department and moderated seminars for the Aspen Institute. Shogan holds a bachelor’s in political science from Boston College and a doctorate in American politics from Yale University. She is a member in good standing of the Washington, D.C., Literary Society.

  • Clay Smith

    Clay Smith is the literary director at the Library of Congress. He is the former editor-in-chief of Kirkus Reviews and the former literary director of the Texas Book Festival and San Antonio Book Festival.

  • Jazmine Ulloa

    Jazmine Ulloa is a national politics reporter for The New York Times, roving the country in search of congressional races, districts and people that capture the political forces reshaping American politics. She is based out of Washington, D.C. Before she came to The New York Times, she covered Congress and the 2020 presidential campaign for The Boston Globe from Washington, D.C. She previously worked for papers in Brownsville, San Antonio and Austin before joining The Los Angeles Times in its Sacramento bureau. In 2018, she traveled the state highlighting the closest midterm races and wrote about California’s fights with the Trump administration over immigration and the border wall.

  • Monica Valentine

    Monica Valentine is a native of Washington, D.C., with over 30 years of experience working at the Library of Congress. She serves as a program specialist in the Library of Congress Informal Learning Office, working primarily in the Young Readers Center and Programs Lab. Valentine is passionate about connecting children, educators and caregivers with great books and author programs. She is the vice president of the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, D.C., and on the Guild’s programming committee.

  • Frederick Wherry

    Frederick Wherry is the vice dean for diversity and inclusion in the Office of the Dean of Faculty and the Townsend Martin, Class of 1917 Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, where he is also an affiliated faculty member in African American studies. He is currently writing a book “What Debtors Deserve” (under contract at Crown Publishing). He founded the Debt Collection Lab and the Dignity + Debt Network, where he works on issues of economic justice. He is the author, editor or co-editor of nine books.

  • Jenn White

    An award winning journalist and podcast host, Jenn White is host of the daily two-hour program “1A” from WAMU and NPR. She is also a familiar voice on several WBEZ podcasts, including “Making Oprah,” “Making Obama” and “16 Shots,” which chronicled the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald and the trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke. A native of Detroit and graduate of the University of Michigan, she now resides in Maryland with her husband and dog.

  • John Williams

    John Williams has been the editor of The Washington Post's Book World since September 2022. Before that, he spent 11 years on the books desk of The New York Times, where he edited the paper’s staff book critics and frequently wrote literary reviews and features.

  • Eun Yang

    Eun Yang anchors “News4 at 4” and “News4 at 6” at NBC4. Yang joined News4 as a general assignment reporter specializing in covering breaking news for “News4 at 11.” She then anchored the weekend editions of “News4 Today” before spending 12 years anchoring “News4 Today,” one of the No.1 rated morning newscasts in the Washington, D.C., area. Yang has been the first to tell Washington, D.C., area viewers about breaking overnight news, severe weather and major Washington stories since 2010. Her field anchor assignments have included the inaugurations of presidents, visits by two popes, opening day at Nationals Park (which she covers every year), and the Olympics in South Korea and in Tokyo.

Library Experts

Meet the Library of Congress experts appearing at the Library of Congress Pavilion.

  • Barbara Bavis

    Barbara Bavis is the bibliographic and research instruction librarian at the Law Library of Congress. In this position, she provides legal and legislative research presentations, as well as legal research services, to a wide range of patrons. She holds a bachelor’s in history from Duke University, a law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a master’s in library and information science, with a specialization in law librarianship, from Catholic University.

  • Sheree Budge

    Sheree Budge is a reference librarian at the Library of Congress specializing in local history and genealogy. She earned a master's in library and information science from Catholic University in 2011, and has studied genealogy and researched her own families’ stories all her adult life. As part of her librarian duties, she provides research orientations about using the Library of Congress collections to answer genealogy questions and provides research strategy consultations upon request. She is descended from farmers, confectioners, patent medicine salesmen, tailors, needle pickers and the man who fell off the Mayflower (John Howland).

  • Aslihan Bulut

    Aslihan Bulut was appointed as the Law Librarian of Congress in August of 2021. She manages the policy and operations of the Law Library of Congress, which contains the world’s largest collection of legal materials, including nearly 3 million items in print alone, from all countries and legal systems around the world. Prior to joining the Law Library in 2019, Bulut served as the director of academic services in the California State University system at the San Jose State University, King Library campus; as the program coordinator and librarian for foreign, comparative and international law at the Langdell Law Library of Harvard Law School; and as a reference librarian and lecturer in law at the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library of Columbia University, School of Law. Bulut has a law degree from the City University of New York, School of Law; a master’s in legal studies from Rutgers University, School of Communication, Information and Library Science; and a bachelor’s from Montclair State University.

  • Megan Halsband

    Megan Halsband is a reference specialist in the serial and government publications division of the Library of Congress, where she has worked with the Library’s comic book collection for over 12 years. She has worked to ensure the Library collects underrepresented formats, subjects and creators via the Small Press Expo Collection as well as comics-related web archiving collections and other digital collections. She has worked frequently with other divisions across the Library to curate exhibits, develop collections and expand knowledge of the Library’s comic collections.

  • Zach Klitzman

    Zach Klitzman is a writer and editor in the Library of Congress publishing office, where he has worked since 2020. He recently co-wrote his first book, “American Feast: Cookbooks and Cocktails from the Library of Congress.” He received his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree in history with a focus on public history from American University. In 2016, he became a “Jeopardy!” champion, appearing on the classic game show with Alex Trebek.

  • Emily Mercer

    Emily Mercer is a 2015 graduate of the University of Mary Washington, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in historic preservation with a minor in museum studies. She held pre-program conservation internships at the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in the archeology, paper, textiles and wooden artifacts labs. Mercer is currently a third-year student at SUNY Buffalo State University, where she is specializing in the conservation of photographic materials. While in graduate school, she completed her first summer internship at Paul Messier LLC and her second summer internship in the photograph conservation lab at the National Gallery of Art. She is currently completing her third-year internship at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Upon the completion of her internship, she will graduate and earn a Master of Arts in conservation of art and cultural heritage, and a Master of Science in conservation science and imagining.

  • Meg Metcalf

    Meg Metcalf is the collections specialist for women's, gender and LGBTQIA+ studies for the Library of Congress general and international collections. They are also a reference librarian in the newspaper and current periodical reading room. Metcalf holds a bachelor’s and master’s in women's and gender studies as well as a Master of Science in library and information science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

  • María Peña

    María Peña is a public relations specialist in the office of communications at the Library of Congress, where she helps promote the Library’s collections, programs and services. A longtime bilingual journalist, she holds a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism from American University and a master’s in communication from Johns Hopkins University. Peña believes in the power of cultural diplomacy and media literacy for promoting democracy and civic engagement.

  • Lee Ann Potter

    Lee Ann Potter directs the office of professional learning and outreach initiatives at the Library of Congress. She leads a talented team committed to informing, inspiring and engaging educators, librarians, early researchers and literacy champions by developing programs and materials largely based on primary sources. She directs the Library’s Teaching with Primary Sources grant program, the Literacy Awards program and the Affiliated Centers for the Book program.

  • Michael Queen

    Michael Queen is a reference librarian in the serial and government publications division at the Library of Congress. He has worked in libraries for over 20 years. Prior to working at the Library of Congress, Queen worked at the U.S. House of Representatives Library. A Vietnamese-American whose hometown is Washington, D.C., he was born in the U.S. but grew up overseas due to his father’s job as a U.S. diplomat. He and his wife are devoted pet parents who love to travel; their idea of the perfect vacation is a trip to Las Vegas.

  • George Thuronyi

    George Thuronyi is the deputy director of the Office of Public Information and Education (PIE) at the United States Copyright Office. He assists the associate register of copyrights and director of PIE in providing authoritative information about copyright law to the public. PIE implements the Copyright Office’s communications plan, publishes comprehensive written and audiovisual materials, develops education and outreach programs, and responds to public inquiries about Office policies and practices. Previously, Thuronyi served as interim head of PIE and as acting director of PIE. He has been with the Copyright Office since 1999 in various roles, including as acting chief, assistant chief and recordation section head. As one of the agency’s early webmasters, Thuronyi designed the first web-based copyright catalog search system, giving users easy access to millions of copyright records.

  • Jason M. Yasner

    Jason M. Yasner is the deputy director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). He was appointed in July 2018 and has served in multiple leadership positions at the Library of Congress since 1994. Yasner is responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of all financial, acquisition, human capital and information technology activities of NLS. He provides a wide range of analytical, technical, managerial and advisory functions, and is currently leading the NLS modernization initiative. Yasner is a certified project management professional with nearly 30 years of experience in information technology and operations. Before joining NLS, he served as the operations manager of the World Digital Library.