Organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and First Lady Laura Bush, the 2008 National Book Festival is set to take over the National Mall from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. The festival—which, after garnering some 120,000 attendees in 2007, ranked as the largest literary event in our Top 100 Literary and Publishing Industry Events—features more than 70 American authors, illustrators, and poets who will be making presentations throughout the day.
Alexandria-based Event Strategies is coordinating the festival for the eighth year in a row. “Last year, the event spanned seven blocks, but this year, the Park Service is closing a portion of the Mall for reseeding," said the production company's vice president, Patrick Young. “The festival is now running from 3rd Street to 7th Street. It’s an interesting challenge, because we expect to have a similar if not larger turnout than last year, but we were able to compress the site without sacrificing much.”
Young works with Library of Congress staffers and PR firm Fleishman-Hillard on the festival, and the Junior League of Washington is providing 400 volunteers. The First Lady and Jenna Bush will be doing a reading of their book at the Children’s Pavilion at 10 a.m. Other featured authors include Tiki Barber, Philippa Gregory, and Salman Rushdie. The festival is free and open to the public, and will continue despite Saturday’s forecast of rain.
