Past Library of Congress National Book Festivals
Related Resources at the Library
View a map of the Book Festival site (PDF). Author Pavilion Schedule Book Signing Schedule |
Author Pavilions
More than 70 American authors, illustrators and poets will be making presentations on the National Mall throughout the day in author pavilions devoted to Children, Teens & Children, Fiction & Fantasy, Mysteries & Thrillers, History & Biography, Home & Family, and Poetry.
Library of Congress Pavilion
- Lifelong Literacy and the Library's Digital Library
Multimedia exhibits will let festival goers explore the wide variety of cultural treasures that the Library preserves and makes available, from ancient manuscripts to motion pictures and folk songs to video games. In the Kids' Zone, educational games will put items from the Library's collections into young visitors' hands and help them create their own works of digital art. A series of interactive activities will encourage visitors to explore the importance of reading in their lives, and to consider which great texts - whether physical or digital - they might want to preserve for future generations.
National Audiovisual Conservation Center
The LC pavilion will also showcase examples from the rich motion picture, broadcasting and recorded sound collections of the Library. These diverse historical collections will soon be housed in the new 420,000 square foot National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, being built by the Packard Humanities Institute for the Library of Congress in Culpeper, VA. When it opens in the spring of 2007, this center will be the first facility in the world conceived for the preservation of all audio-visual formats produced since the 19th Century as well as works that are born digital.
Veteran's History Project (VHP)
A program of the Library's American Folklife Center, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project is a growing collection of oral histories, memoirs, letters and photographs of personal accounts of war experiences submitted by veterans and civilian supporters. You can record your wartime story in this pavilion and become a part of the nation's history or learn how to participate at a later time.
At the 2006 Festival, the paperback edition of VHP's second book, Forever a Soldier, will be unveiled. Book author and VHP historian Tom Wiener will interview Darlene Iskra, one of the veterans featured in the book. She was the first woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy and served during the Persian Gulf War.
10:30 a.m. — DARLENE ISKRA AND TOM WIENER
The paperback edition of VHP's second book, Forever a Soldier, will be unveiled. Book author and VHP historian Tom Wiener will interview Darlene Iskra, one of the veterans featured in the book. She was the first woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy and served during the Persian Gulf War. Darlene lives in College Park. Iskra and Wiener will sign books in the pavilion.
12:00 noon — DONALD L. MILLER, RICK NEWMAN, DON SHEPPERD AND DAUN VAN EE
Miller author of Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, and Newman and Shepperd, authors of Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail will be featured with Daun Van Ee, military historian in the Library's Manuscript Division, as the discussion moderator. Miller, Newman and Shepperd will sign books in the pavilion.
2:00 pm — KEVIN HYMEL AND BOB PATRICK
Bob Patrick, Director of the Veterans History Project, will interview Hymel author of Patton's Photographs: War As He Saw It. Hymel will focus on General George S. Patton's personal photography of his service in World War II. The Library's Patton Collection contains hundreds of pictures the controversial general snapped during the war. Hymel will sign books in the pavilion.
3:30 pm — MARTY POTTS AND EZRA HILL
Ms. Potts, a teacher at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville, Virginia, and one of her students will conduct a demonstration interview with Ezra Hill, a veteran who served as a Tuskegee airman. Mr. Hill will sign copies of his book, The Black Red Tail Angels in the pavilion.
Pavilion of the States
- Visit Your Home State
Come to the popular Pavilion of the States to learn about the reading and literacy promotion projects as well as the literary traditions of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. Representatives from throughout the nation will provide information and answer questions about their state's writers, libraries, book festivals, book awards and reading promotion activities. In addition, several authors will be dropping by their state's table during the day.
Collect State Stickers and Stamps
A popular feature, especially among young readers and their families, is a free map of the United States that can be presented at each table for an appropriate state sticker or stamp. The map also includes a reading list of books for young people nominated by each state.
The Pavilion of the States is organized by the Library's Center for the Book, which will be distributing brochures and information about its reading promotion activities. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the major pavilion sponsor, with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Book Sales Pavilion
- There will be two sales pavilions on the festival's grounds with identical inventories of selected books by 2006 National Book Festival authors. Visit and browse before going to book signing areas to meet your favorite authors.
Let's Read America Pavilion
- The Let's Read America Pavilion will feature a variety of family-friendly activities.
Pose with your favorite PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO! characters and get a free polaroid picture outside of the Let's Read America Pavilion. The PBS Shutterbug Team will be on hand throughout the day. Don't miss the chance to see them all:
Anne of Green Gables
Arthur
The Berenstein Bears
Digit from "Cyberchase"
Caillou
Ord from "Dragon Tales"
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Curious George
Elmo from "Sesame Street"
Leona from "Between the Lions"
Maya & Miguel
Noddy
Piggley Winks from "Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks"
Snook from "It's a Big Big World"
Mr. McFeely the Speedy Delivery Man from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood"
and the host of our new PBS KIDS preschool block, Miss Lori