Word’s going out today that the National Book Festival, heading into its 11th year on the National Mall, will be a two-day event for 2011.
The festival will take place on the National Mall, from 9th Street to 14th Street, on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 25 from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.. rain or shine. Watch our website at www.loc.gov/bookfest for more developments.
For a decade, the excitement has been crammed into a single late-morning-to-late-afternoon window, with more than 70 authors speaking about their works and signing books for fans in massive pavilions that shelter attendees from the sun and rain.
This year, plans are for author sessions to be several minutes longer, to allow for more Q & A from festival-goers, and for more time to be allotted between sessions so authors and fans alike will have a better opportunity to navigate the grounds. The added day will let us plan for at least 90 authors over the entire weekend.
Parents can also bring their kids to mingle with characters familiar from TV and sample many child-friendly reading and literacy programs, and families can enjoy the ever-popular Pavilion of the States, where representatives of Centers for the Book in the nation’s states and territories offer a fun take on reading and writing across America.
“Fans of the National Book Festival have urged us to make it a weekend-long event for many years,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
He notes that in 2010 – at the 10th anniversary National Book Festival – attendance over the history of the festivals topped 1 million.
“We look forward to welcoming millions more festival-goers of all ages for many years to come,” he said.
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