National Book Festival

Being a family of book geeks, why did it take us so long to go to the National Book Festival? (The festival, which takes place in Washington, DC, is in its thirteenth year.) My two daughters were thrilled to see actual authors… where else can you see—in one place—Joyce Carol Oates, Giada de Laurentiis, and Mark Helprin swaggering around like rock stars? (Okay, so maybe not swaggering.) We heard talks from Jon Scieszka (as fun and goofy as his books) and Richard Peck (who my daughters were excited about and was new to me).

Two thumbs up to Suzy Lee for her illustration on this year’s poster. A collection of animals and kids reading in a tree, it’s whimsical and lots of fun. If you want to download the poster, the PDF is available here.

The drawback to the festival: seeing authors listed on Saturday who we didn’t see by only going on Sunday. So next year, we’ll have to step up our game.

But, thankfully, the Library of Congress will have videos of the talks on their website. Not the same as seeing it live, but it’s a nice second chance. So, if you’re back next year, Don DeLillo, I’m gonna grab a seat and listen up.

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