“Our history as a people and a nation is a great story, pieced together like a quilt bit by bit, generation by generation. By reading together and sharing stories, we become part of the fabric of the American community.” - Laura Bush, White House Author Breakfast 2003
September 9, 2001
25,000-30,000
Authors: 32
On June 14, The Washington Post writer Linton Weeks gave readers the first glimpse of the new event. The Library of Congress was the sponsor and the host was First Lady Laura Bush. She brought her love of books and experiences with the Texas Book Festival to the table.
The idea for the event came during conversations between the First Lady and Librarian of Congress James Billington, who helped led the effort. 32 authors appeared, including Stephen Ambrose, Michael Beschloss, Walter Moseley, John Feinstein, Alice McDermott, Robin Cook, Sue Grafton, Scott Turow, and nine children and young adult authors.
Like all of them would be, the event was free and held on a Saturday (later ones would be held on Saturday and Sunday, and then returned to Saturday only). Before settling into a stretch of holding the event on the Mall (2003-2013), the first one was held at the East Lawn of the Capitol at First and Independence. Estimated attendance was 25-30,000.
October 10, 2002
45,000
Authors: 61
Post 9/11 security fears had many worried the festival would not be held, but it went on and 45,000 attended. The event moved to the west lawn of the Capitol and the National Mall (Capitol to Fourth Street). The date moved to October 10.
61 authors appeared, including Henry Louis Gates, Jr, David Halberstam, David McCullough, James McPherson, Scott Simon, David Baldacci, Carol and Mary HIggins Clark, and 25 Children authors.
A special guest was Lyudmila Putin, wife of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
October 4, 2003
75,000
Authors: 71
The festival moved to the National Mall, the first of what would prove to be a 11-year run there. 60,000 attended. A children and teens pavilion were added.
The author count was 71 and included James Patterson, Julia Glass, Bob Schieffer, Lynn Sherr, Juan Williams, Robert Caro, David Maraniss, David Balducci, Laura Lippman, Nikki Grimes, Bob Lanier, and a dozen poets. In what would become somewhat of a tradition, NBA and WNBA players appeared and read.
The Washington Post published a special page titled, “Read All About Them, Seven Popular Authors Reveal Some of their Favorite Things.” Tracy Grant asked it to children authors R.L. Stine, Mary Pope Osborne, Nikki Grimes, Jane Yolen, Jerry Spinelli, Sharon Creech, and Steven Kellog.
October 9, 2004
85,000
Authors: 75
The festival’s beloved partner C-SPAN got some love in Neely Tucker’s article in The Washington Post, who also paired with the event (“Mall Event is Solidly Booked”). Grabbing a free large book bag with the C-SPAN name printed on it would become an essential part of the festival experience.
Waiting in line for that special autograph is also part and parcel of the festival. Rockville resident Sean Mahaffy waited for Neil Gaiman, “fantasy novelist and comic book cult figure.” He stood in line for four hours.
Warren Tsuneishi, a retired librarian, discussed his book “Voices of War,” a compilation of memoirs by the Library of Congress. The 83-year-old veteran of World War II survived an internment camp after Pearl Harbor.
Attendance was 85,000. Authors numbered 75, and included Representative John Lewis, Ron Chernow, Clive Cussler, Kate DiCamillo, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Douglas Brinkley, Cokie Roberts, Juan Williams, Louis Bayard, and a dozen in the Poetry category and ten in children, and nine in teens.
September 25, 2005
100,000
Authors: 80
For the fifth festival, attendance soared to six digits. After holding it in October for three years, the festival moved up to September 25.
The Mall was yet again a stage for all the world. In his article, Bob Thompson pointed out the remarkable juxtaposition of “Poets on Parade” and anti-war protestors streaming by the event.
Thompson also asked and answered the question, “How should we look at the National Book Festival?” His answers included, it’s a defense of the printed word, it’s a non-political event (Or is it?), it’s a television show, it’s a marketing opportunity, and it’s a community of writers and readers.
80 authors appeared and included Sandra Brown, David Baldacci, Laura Lippman, E.L. Doctorow, Gish Jen, Tom Wolfe, Buzz Aldrin, George R.R. Martin, David Brooks, Joseph Ellis, Andrea Mitchell, Judge Robert L. Carter, Sue Monk Kidd, and Jerry Pinkney.
September 30, 2006
Attendance: 100,000 plus
Authors: 74
The weather was always a concern and rain fell for this one. Nevertheless, the show went on under the tents. As always, thousands poured out of Metro’s Smithsonian station, conveniently located steps from the Mall.
Bob Thompson brought his notebook once again and highlighted Khaled Hosseini, author of “The Kite Runner.” His novel topped the charts and was made into a movie. Hosseini said the spark came after the Taliban banned kite flying in Afghanistan.
Thompson also reported on the importance of book titles and ones that got messed up in translation. His look at “video man” (Kurt Aldag) is fun to read.
The author list included Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Hope Franklin, Bob Woodward, Taylor Branch, Douglas Brinkley, Geraldine Brooks, Khaled Hosseni, George Pelecanos, Lisa Scottoline, Nathaniel Philbrick, Alice McDermott, Daniel Silva, Vince Flynn, Scott Turow, Shiela Moses, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Brad Meltzer.
September 29, 2007
Attendance: 120,000
Authors: 71
In keeping with their tradition, The Washington Post published a special pull out guide for their Book World section. The tradition of having NBA and WNBA players involved kept going with Al Harrington (Golden State Warriors) reading to children.
The author list included Carmen Agra Deedy, Holly Black, David Balducci, Diane Ackerman, Michael Beschloss, Ashley Bryan, James Swanson, Geoffrey Ward, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Martha Raddatz, Gene Luen Yang, Joyce Carol Oates, Jodi Picoult, David Ignatius, and Maria Celeste Arraras.
Bob Thompson got the beat call again and covered Joyce Carol Oates, whose latest was “The Gravedigger’s Daughter.” It was inspired by the life of her paternal granddaughter. Poet N. Scott Momaday talked about once visiting Georgia O’Keefe, who was taking more time than expected to bring him a drink from her kitchen. “It turns out,” he told the audience, “that O’Keefe had taken the pantry doors off the hinges.”
September 27, 2008
120,000
Authors: 73
The Washington Post was on top of things once again. Their coverage included a photo of Jenna Bush Hager, who “greeted a future reader while promoting “Read All About It,” written with her mother. 2008 was the final year of hosting for First Lady Laura Bush.
Bob Thompson’s lengthy article touched on Neil Gaiman and his latest book, “The Graveyard Book.” Dionne Warwick drew a crowd for her children’s book, “Say a Little Prayer.”
CBS New Correspondent Kimberly Dozier must have had a rapt audience for her talk on her book, “Breathing the Fire. Fighting to Report, and Survive, The War in Iraq.” Immaculee Ilibagiza, a Rwanda-American, received a standing ovation for discussing her brushes with death in her book, “Left to Tell, Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.”
The author count bumped up to 73. It included the above and Salman Rushdie, Tiki Barber, Dionne Warwick, Tony Horowitz, David Maraniss, Cokie Roberts, Bob Schieffer, Daniel Schorr, Gordon S. Wood, Sandra Brown, James McBride, Arthur Frommer, Michelle Singletary, Jon Scieszka, and Andrea Davis Pinkney.
September 26, 2009
130,000
Authors: 80
Attendance continued to soar with 130,000 attending. Same for the authors with 80. Big names dotted the list, including John Grisham, Kadir Nelson, Jodi Picoult, Colson Whitehead, David Balducci, Walter Mosely, George Pelecanos, Daniel SIlva, Azar Nafasi, Judy Blume, Paula Dean, James Patterson, Jacqueline Woodson, Douglas Brinkley, Ken Burns, Annette Gordon-Reed, Gwen Ifill, and Jon Meacham.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama served as honorary co-chairs.
In The Washington Post, Marissa Newhall dished on what she saw at the opening reception for authors and donors. It included, “John Grisham -- Charlottesville resident and festival rookie -- recalled struggling to sell 1,000 copies of "A Time to Kill" in Mississippi in 1989, before "The Firm" made him famous.”
September 25, 2010
150,000
Authors: 63
Ever generous, David Rubinstein donated $5M to the festival. Attendance hit the 150,000 mark.
63 authors appeared, including Laura Bush, Suzanne Collins, Edward O. Wilson, Brad Meltzer, James Ransome, Judith Viorst, Isabell Allende, Scott Turow, Wil Haygood, David Remnick, Stacy Schiff, Evan Thomas, and Gordon S. Wood.
The Post’s Lonnae O’Neal Parker wrote an article titled, “Repeating family history; The National Book Festival's Adele and Elizabeth Alexander are both blood and ink relations.” Washington historian, author, and resident Adele Logan Alexander, who wrote the Introduction to the book, “The Guide to Black Washington,” read from her book, “Parallel Worlds: The Remarkable Gibbs-Hunts and the Enduring (In)significance of Melanin.” In another pavilion, her daughter, Elizabeth Alexander, a renowned poet who read a poem for President Obama, read from her book, “Crave Radiance, New and Selected Poems.”
The Post also published an article (no by-line) titled, What's the power of the pen? Authors jot answers.” Among the answers were:
Phillip Hoose (author of "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice"):
"Can writers change the world? Are you kidding? Yahwey didn't whisper the Commandments to Moses and trust him to remember them. Moses carried a tablet -- which, come to think of it, looks like a Kindle -- back down the mountain and read the rules to his tribe.”
September 24-25, 2011
200,000
Authors: 112
The festival kicked off its second decade in style. For the first time, readers were treated to two days (Saturday and Sunday). The author count hit triple digits with 112 author. Attendance soared to 200,000.
The volunteers are always the backbone of the event. The LOC website said there were more than 1,100 for this one.
Authors included Julianne Moore, Cassandra Clare, Isabel Wilkerson Uma Krishnaswami, Joel Achenbach, Amy Chua, Bob Edwards, Hoda Kotb, Jim Lehrer, Sarah Vowell, Louis Bayard, Laura Lippman, Toni Morrison, Eric Foner, Adam Goodhart, David McCullough, Candice Mallard, Eugene Robinson, Dave Eggers, Garrison Keillor, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jonathan Yardley, Choo Choo Soul, Hip Hop Harry, Lisa Yee, and a Graphic Novel session, as well as a State Poets Laureate session.
The Washington Post’s coverage included Toni Morrison, who appeared for the first time. She was awarded the Creative Achievement Award.
September 22-23, 2012
200,000
Authors: 136
The Mall and Metro were packed once again with 200,000 attending. Coordinators were kept busy with an author list of 136, more than four times the first figure of 32.
It included Walter Isaacson, John Green, Jeffery Eugenides, Jewel, Mike Lupica, Jacqueline Woodson, Thomas Friedman, Steve Inskeep, Rep. John Lewis, Jeffery Toobin, Robert Caro, David Eisehower, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Lien-Hang Nguyen, David O. Stewart, Bob Woodward, Sandra Cisneros, Marion Vargas Llosa, Michael Dirda, Jill Abramson, and 32 in the Family Storytelling category.
September 21-22, 2013
200,000
Authors: 111
This would prove to be the last year on the Mall. Don DeLillo received the inaugural Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Once again, attendance reached 200,000.
Authors numbered 111 and included Margaret Atwood, Marie Arana, Taylor Branch, DeLillo, Khaled Hoseini, Barbara Kingsolver, Rafael Lopez, Brad Meltzer, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeff Chu, Linda Ronstadt, Rick Atkinson, Scott Berg, Natasha Trethewey, Evan Thomas, James McBride, and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.
August 30, 2014
65,000
Authors: 113
After 11 years on the Mall, the festival moved to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Ron Charles of The Washington Post reported on the reason.
The NPS began new procedures to help maintain the grass. With it came higher costs. Jennifer Gavin, project manager of the Library of Congress National Book Festival, was quoted as saying, “We spent months working with the Park Service to see if we could make this work. But when we looked at the costs — and they were considerable — we decided that the festival-goers would be better served by moving it into the convention center.”
The new location improved Metro taking and eliminated rain and weather worries. And surely, no one missed using the portable toilets. On the other hand, the Mall setting, with the Washington Monument and the Capitol as book ends, had its own special feelings.
The date, typically held in mid-September, also changed, moving up to August 30th. Yet another change was the return to one day. The hours were extended to 10 pm.
Peter Slen, C-SPAN Senior Executive Producer, Host of “In Depth,” and interviewer of many an author, set up right at the entrance.
The author tally of 114 was especially impressive given it was just the one day. Notables included Rep. John Lewis, Alan Greenspan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Mona Simpson, Cokie Roberts, Ilyasah Shabazz, Rita Williams-Garcia, Rep. James Clyburn, Sandra Day O’Connor, Cathal Armstrong, Alice McDermott, Lisa See, Lynn Sherr, and E.L. Doctorow. Categories included picture book, science, special programs, and Great Books to Great Movies. There were also Culinary Demos (Let’s Read America).
September 5, 2015
135,000
Authors: 170
So many authors, so little time!
In its 15th year, the Festival had come a long way from its beginnings of 32 authors. More than five times that (170) appeared. The 15th also featured the public debut of Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera. He announced his laureateship project, “La Casa de Colores.”
Attendance soared to 135,000. Authors included Buzz Aldrin, Juan Felipe Herrera, Claudia Rankine, David McCullough, Naomi Shibab Nye, David Balducci, Ellen Oh, Maureen Corrigan, Walter Isaacson, Tom Gjelten, Erika Lee, David Maraniss, Al Roker, Ray Suarez, Barry Svrluga, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Joseph Ellis, Edward Larson, Maria Jose Navia, Mark Plotkin, Jeffery Deaver, David Ignatius, Tom Brokow, Annette Gordon-Reed, and Jon Meacham.
The festival highlighted Romance Fiction. In that category were Beverly Jenkins, Sarah MacLean, and Paige Tyler.
September 24, 2016
Attendance: Not Provided
Authors: 134
After a long tenure as the Librarian of Congress, James Billington gave way to Dr. Carla Hayden. For the first time, the event was live streamed on Facebook.
The LOC Prize for American Fiction was awarded to Marilynne Robinson. Stephen King was honored for “his work promoting literacy and reading with the Library of Congress Literacy Champion Citation.”
Authors included Hayden and King, Salman Rushdie, Bob Woodward, Newt Gingrich, Roberto Canessa, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shonda Rhimes, Herve Tullet, Ken Burns, Newt Gingrich, Rep. John Lewis, Roberto Canessa, Kwame Alexander, Winston Groom, Monica Hesse, Angela Davis, Diane Rehm, James McBride, Jeffery Toobin, Geraldine Brooks, Rep. Steven J. Israel, and Eric Weiner.
Categories increased to 13 and included International.
September 2, 2017
Attendance: Not Provided
Authors: 110
In a surprise move, the festival moved up to September 2, Labor Day Weekend.
But once again, the author list was long and impressive. Notables included Margot Lee Shetterly, Condoleeza Rice, Cokie Roberts, David McCullough, Diana Gabaldon, Michael Lewis, David McCullough, J.D. Vance, Michael Eric Dyson, Ibram X. Kendi, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Ha Jin, Alice McDermott, Scott Turow, David Balducci, Marie Lu, Sabaa Tahir, Nathaniel Philbrick, and Veronica Murguia. Children authors totaled 31.
September 1, 2018
Attendance: Not Provided
Authors: 112
Attending the festival can involve making tough choices when the appearance time of your favorites overlap. Keeping your seat is also a strategy some employ. What a lineup this year had at the Main Stage with Dave Eggers, US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Madeleine Albright, Amy Tan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham, and Isabel Allende filing the bill from 10 am to 7 pm.
Other notables included U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, Kate DiCamillo, Minh Le, Brian Selznick, Jacqueline Woodson, James Swanson, Jennifer Egan, Min Jin Lee, Celeste Ng, Annie Proux, David Ignatius, Brad Meltzer, Ron Chernow, Erica Dunbar Armstrong, Sujathat Gidla, Isabel Wilkerson, and Gordon S. Wood.
A new category, “Understanding Our World,” was added.
August 31, 2019
200,000
Authors: 148
As noted by the festival website, the Main Stage, History & Biography Stage, and Understanding Our World Stage, were moved to accommodate more audience members.
Authors numbered 148 and included Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Chef José Andrés, Actor Matthew Gray Gubler, David McCullough, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Beschloss, Richard Ford, Raina Telgemeier, Henry Louis Gates, Jon Scieszka, Monica Hesse, Louis Bayard, Barbary Kingsolver, Douglas Brinkley, Evan Thomas, Amitav Ghosh, Kim Thuy, Julia Alverez, Jenny Xie, Frans de Waal, David Blight, Judge Richard Gergel, and Steven Pearlstein.
2020
Scheduled for August 29
Held Virtually September 25-27
There was a twist in the plot for the twentieth festival, as the Covid-19 pandemic led to it becoming virtual. The show did go on with the virtual appearances. The festival website notes there were more than 120 participants, but only lists the featured authors. They included Madeleine Albright, Colson Whitehead, Haben Girma, John Grisham, and Tomi Adeyemi.
September 17-26, 2021
Authors: More than 100
A second straight year of virtual programming that stretched across ten days. The theme was “Open a Book, Open the World.”
As noted by the NBF website, “For the first time, the Festival also included interviews presented with The Washington Post Live and through podcasts produced and distributed by NPR.”
Featured authors were Jason Reynolds, Roxane Gay, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Michael J. Fox, Angie Thomas. Fiction roared with 31 authors.
September 3, 2022
Attendance: Not Provided
Authors: 74
The glorious return, the festival once again becomes an in-person event. Nevertheless, some of the events were virtual and live-streamed.
Featured authors included:
Janelle Monáe, Nyle DiMarco, Nick Offerman, Leslie Jordan
Geraldine Brooks, Clint Smith, Mitch Albom, Sabaa Tahir, Kate Clifford Larson, Candice Millard, David Maraniss, Celeste Headlee, Kirsten Chen, Xochitl, Nghi Vo, and Daniel Bergner. Categories included a Writers Studio.
August 12, 2023
Attendance: Not Provided
Authors: 74
The Festival made another date move, holding it on August 12. The traditional categories gave way to Inspiration, Creativity, Curiosity, Discovery, Insight, and Understanding.
A look at the list of authors reveals a changing of the guard if you will, with previous long time notables giving way to new and future stars. But the list of authors remained impressive as always.
Concluding Thoughts:
In September 2020, Angela Haupt wrote an article in The Washington Post that provided an oral history of the first festival in 2001.
Author Gail Tsukiyama said:
“I was terrified. It was a big white tent, outside the Capitol, and there were a couple hundred chairs, and my first thought was, what if they’re all empty? Because that was a lot of chairs!”
She concluded by saying, “But something really wonderful about the National Book Festival is that the seats fill up. People come.”
They most certainly do…
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