July 14, 2010 10th Annual National Book Festival to Headline Follett, Glass, Kostova
The President and Mrs. Obama Will Serve as Honorary Chairs
Press Contact: Jennifer Gavin (202) 707-1940
The stellar lineup for the 10th annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, will include international best-selling author Ken Follett; Rae Armantrout, winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for poetry; National Book Award winner Julia Glass; Pat Mora, one of the nation’s most beloved writers for children; and Elizabeth Kostova, author of the worldwide sensations “The Historian” and “The Swan Thieves.” They will be among more than 70 authors now slated to appear at the event on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010. The event, free and open to the public, will run from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. between 3rd and 7th streets on the National Mall.
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, the First Lady, will be honorary chairs of the event.
In observance of its 10th anniversary – “A Decade of Words and Wonder” – the festival will feature several special events during the week preceding the festival day.
The 2010 National Book Festival poster, by renowned illustrator Peter Ferguson, can be downloaded from the festival website at www.loc.gov/bookfest.
Authors and illustrators scheduled to participate in the National Book Festival will make their presentations in the Children, Teens & Children, Fiction & Mystery, Poetry & Prose, History & Biography and Contemporary Life pavilions.
- Children: Mary Brigid Barrett, Timothy Basil Ering, Jules Feiffer, Mem Fox, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Norton Juster, Pat Mora, Marilyn Nelson, Linda Sue Park, Jerry Pinkney, James Ransome, Judith Viorst and Rosemary Wells
- Teens & Children: M.T. Anderson, Michael Buckley, Suzanne Collins, Margarita Engle, Peter Ferguson, Phillip M. Hoose, Brad Meltzer, Katherine Paterson, Jane Smiley, Jeff Smith and Rebecca Stead
- Fiction & Mystery: Isabel Allende, Ken Follett, Diana Gabaldon, Julia Glass, Martha Grimes, Elizabeth Kostova, Anchee Min, Karin Slaughter, Scott Spencer, Peter Straub and Scott Turow
- Poetry & Prose: Elizabeth Alexander, Rae Armantrout, Jonathan Franzen, Gail Godwin, Allegra Goodman, Chang-rae Lee, Thomas Mallon, Orhan Pamuk, Jane Smiley and Natasha Trethewey
- History & Biography: Adele Logan Alexander, Timothy Egan, Jules Feiffer, Wil Haygood, David E. Hoffman, Richard Holmes, James McGrath Morris, Nell Irvin Painter, David Remnick, Steven V. Roberts, Stacy Schiff, Evan Thomas and Gordon S. Wood
- Contemporary Life: Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Gurcharan Das, Ree Drummond, Bruce Feiler, Jonathan Safran Foer, Spike Mendelsohn, Michele Norris, Richard Rhodes, Henry Petroski, Craig Robinson, Anita Silvey, Harold Varmus and Edward O. Wilson.
Festival-goers can meet and hear firsthand from their favorite authors, get books signed, have photos taken with PBS storybook characters and participate in a variety of learning activities.
The 2010 National Book Festival is made possible through the generous support of Co-Chairman, National Book Festival Board David M. Rubenstein; Charter Sponsors Target and The Washington Post; Patrons, AT&T, Institute of Museum and Library Services, The James Madison Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS KIDS Raising Readers; Contributors, Borders, Digital Bookmobile powered by OverDrive, Penguin Group (USA), ReadAloud.org, Scholastic Inc., and the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union; and Friends The Hay-Adams and National Endowment for the Humanities. Thanks also to C-SPAN2’s Book TV and The Junior League of Washington.
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may be accessed through the Library’s website, www.loc.gov, and via interactive exhibitions on myLOC.gov.
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PR 10-162
2010-07-15
ISSN 0731-3527