The Library of Congress announced the lineup for its annual National Book Festival, with authors Janelle Monáe, Nick Offerman, and Clint Smith among those scheduled to appear.
The theme for this year’s festival, which will take place at the Washington Convention Center for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, is “Books Bring Us Together.” More than 120 authors are slated to attend.
Singer-songwriter Monáe will discuss her short story collection, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, while actor Offerman will talk about his latest book, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves To Walk Outside.
Smith will be in a discussion about his National Book Critics Circle Award–winning How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.
Featured fiction authors scheduled to speak at the festival include Geraldine Brooks, Karen Joy Fowler, and Tochi Onyebuchi, while young adult and children’s literature will be represented by writers including Kwame Alexander, Darcie Little Badger, Jason Reynolds, and Sabaa Tahir.
The co-authors of the popular young adult novel-in-stories Blackout—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—will discuss their novel at the festival.
The National Book Festival is scheduled to take place on Sept. 3. A full lineup is available at the Library of Congress website.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
