Authors Take Center Stage at
First National Book Festival
Sponsored by First Lady Laura Bush and the Library of Congress, the first National Book Festival, held September 8 in Washington, D.C., drew close to 30,000 people to the library and the Capitol lawn for a day of readings, storytelling, and other programs.
More than 60 authors—among them David McCullough, J. California Cooper, Larry L. King, Gail Godwin, and Tom Brokaw—read from their work inside five festival tents and at a black-tie dinner the preceding evening. At times the crowds and lines in the temporary bookstore and at autographing tables inside the library’s Jefferson Building grew so congested that authors Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Hope Franklin, Elizabeth Peters, and others were moved to tables on the library’s south lawn.
Kicking off the festivities, Librarian of Congress James Billington introduced the First Lady as “the first professional librarian ever to live in the White House.” She characterized the festival as an opportunity to “revel in the joy of the written word.”
The First Lady and the library raised over $1.2 million to stage the festival, underwritten by major donors such as AT&T, WorkPlaceUSA, the Washington Post, and the library’s James Madison Council. Billington called the event a tribute to “the enduring value of the world of books to the vitality of our democracy.”
Posted September 17, 2001.
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