The National Book Festival will take place in Washington between September 17 and September 26, 2021, and unlike last year’s all-virtual festival, this year’s will offer a variety of ways to see famous authors. From a press release from the Library of Congress, which produces the annual festival:
Festival content will be available online through videos on demand, author conversations in real time and live question-and-answer sessions, as well as a new podcast series, a national television special and some in-person, ticketed events at the Library.
NPR will produce the podcasts, and there will be a national TV special on PBS as well. While the lineup is not yet finished, the names announced Monday are notable and include Kazuo Ishiguro, Isabel Wilkerson, and Roxane Gay, as well as actor Michael J. Fox (whose new memoir is called No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality), Nikki Giovanni, and Tana French. Kacen Callender, Diane von Fürstenberg, Annette Gordon-Reed, Yaa Gyasi, and Maria Hinojosa are scheduled to appear, as are chef Marcus Samuelsson, Chang-rae Lee, Adam Grant and Mishal Husain, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Christopher Paolini, Mary Roach, and Angie Thomas.
More names are coming; subscribe to the Library of Congress’s email updates list to know the latest.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
