May 28, 2014 Sandra Day O’Connor, Elizabeth McCracken, Mona Simpson, Cathal Armstrong To Appear at 2014 Library of Congress National Book Festival

Festival Poster Can Be Downloaded at loc.gov/bookfest

Contact: Jennifer Gavin (202) 707-1940

An even broader lineup of authors, poets and illustrators for readers of all ages—including such writers as chef Cathal Armstrong, Mona Simpson, Elizabeth McCracken, Jack Gantos, Tanuja Desay Hidier, Anne Hillerman, Sara Sue Hoklotubbe, chef Sheilah Kaufman, Brian Lies, Francesco Marciulano, Adrian Miller, Ian Morris, chef Amy Riolo, Alberto Ríos, Clay Risen, Jeff Smith, Susan Stockdale, Theodore Taylor, Raina Telgemeier, chef Daniel W. Thomas, Tim Tingle, Judith Viorst and chefs Laura and Peter Zeranski—has been confirmed for the 2014 Library of Congress National Book Festival. The festival, with President Obama and Mrs. Obama serving as honorary chairs, is free and open to the public and will take place from 10 a.m to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Also appearing will be former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; this year’s authors also include U.S. Reps. John Lewis and James Clyburn and Kate DiCamillo, the Library’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. World-renowned novelist E.L. Doctorow also will attend, to speak and receive the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

The festival will invite attendees to “Stay Up With a Good Book” by holding evening hours for the first time in its 14-year history. Special events will take place between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. including a poetry slam, a session featuring “Great Books to Great Movies,” and a “super-session” for fans of the graphic-novel genre.

The festival’s new location also facilitates an expanded selection of genre pavilions. In addition to the longtime pavilions History & Biography, Fiction & Mystery, Poetry & Prose, Children’s, Contemporary Life, Teens and Special Programs, this year’s festival also will offer new pavilions focused on Science, the Culinary Arts, and for young readers, Picture Books.

“This year’s National Book Festival author lineup is most exciting. With our new genre pavilions we will offer an even broader array than in any past year,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

Authors who have accepted the Library’s invitation to speak and sign books at the 2014 Library of Congress National Book Festival also include photographer Bob Adelman, Jonathan Allen, Paul Auster, Andrew Aydin, Patrik Henry Bass, Kyle Baker, Peter Baker, Ishmael Beah, Andrea Beaty, Kai Bird, Eula Biss, Kendare Blake, Paul Bogard, Jeffrey Brown, Peter Brown, Eric H. Cline, Bryan Collier, Billy Collins, Raúl Colón, James Conaway, Ilene Cooper, Jerry Craft, H. Alan Day, Liza Donnelly, Margaret Engel, Percival Everett, Jules Feiffer, David Theodore George, Francisco Goldman, Carla Hall, Henry Hodges, Siri Hustvedt, Molly Idle, Peniel E. Joseph, Cynthia Kadohata, Nick Kotz, Nina Krushcheva, Louisa Lim, Eric Litwin, Adrienne Mayor, Alice McDermott, Meg Medina, Claire Messud, Anchee Min, Elizabeth Mitchell, Richard Moe, chef John Moeller, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Alicia Ostriker, Laura Overdeck, George Packer, Amie Parnes, Dav Pilkey, Paisley Rekdal, Amanda Ripley, Cokie Roberts, Lisa See, Ilyasah Shabazz, Lynn Sherr, Brando Skyhorse, Lynn Wiese Sneyd, Vivek Tiwary, David Treuer, Ann Ursu, Maria Venegas, Rita Williams-Garcia, Natasha Wimmer, Jacqueline Woodson, Gene Luen Yang and Tiphanie Yanique.

Details about the Library of Congress National Book Festival can be found on its website at www.loc.gov/bookfest/. The website offers a variety of features, and new material will be added to the website as authors continue to join this year’s stellar lineup.

Among those notables, Elizabeth McCracken is the author of books including “An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination,” “Here’s Your Hat, What’s Your Hurry” and “Niagara Falls All Over Again.” The Boston native holds the James Michener Chair in Fiction at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and both she and her husband, novelist Edward Carey, served on the workshop’s faculty. Her latest book, a short-story collection, is titled “Thunderstruck and Other Stories.”

Chef Cathal Armstrong acquired a love for fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables and good food generally at his Dublin home. When he was age 7, he began yearly visits with a French family, the Boudains, who taught him about peasant food, the area’s wine production and organic food production. His Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Virginia is avidly patronized by discerning diners and he is active in Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, which seeks to improve children’s nourishment and exercise habits.

The judges of the 2002 National Book Awards called Alberto Ríos “a poet of reverie and magical perception … and of the threshold between this world and the world just beyond.” Named Arizona’s inaugural Poet Laureate in 2013, Ríos has written several collections of poetry including “The Dangerous Shirt” (2009), “The Theater of Night” (2006) “The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body” (2002), which was nominated for the National Book Award, and “Whispering to Fool the Wind,” (1982), which won the Walt Whitman Award. He has also written several pieces of fiction, including “Capirotada: A Nogales Memoir” (1999) and “Pig Cookies and Other Stories” (1995). The Arizona native’s poetry has been set to music in the cantata “Toto’s Say” by James DeMars. His work is included in more than 90 anthologies.

Popular artist and illustrator Bob Staake designed the artwork for this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival poster. Staake has written or illustrated more than 60 books, including “The Donut Chef,” “Bluebird,” “Bugs Galore,” “Hello Robots,” “Look! A Book,” “This Is Not a Pumpkin,” “Pets Go Pop” and others. He has also illustrated extensively for magazines, including several covers for The New Yorker, for newspapers and advertising.

The festival’s new setting will offer many familiar and popular activities. Representatives from across the United States and its territories will celebrate their unique literary offerings in the Pavilion of the States. The Let’s Read America area will offer reading activities that are fun for the whole family. The Library of Congress Pavilion will showcase treasures in the Library’s vast online collections and offer information about Library programs.

The 2014 National Book Festival is made possible through the generous support of National Book Festival Board Co-Chairman David M. Rubenstein; Charter Sponsors the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Washington Post and Wells Fargo; Patron the National Endowment for the Arts; Contributor Scholastic Inc. and—in the Friends category—the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS KIDS, the Small Press Expo and WAMU 88.5 FM.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may be accessed through its website, www.loc.gov.

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PR 14-094
2014-05-29
ISSN 0731-3527