Schedule

All National Book Festival events on Aug. 31 will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. NOTE: Using the “Add to Calendar” tool places individual events in your personal calendar. It does not constitute a reservation or ticket to the event, nor does it guarantee you a seat.

Main Stage

Children's Green Stage

Children's Purple Stage

Teens

  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan Presentation 10:00 am - 10:35 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan discuss "Watch Us Rise" (Bloomsbury). Introduced by: Monica Valentine. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Kathleen Glasgow Presentation 10:50 am - 11:25 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Kathleen Glasgow discusses "How to Make Friends with the Dark" (Delacorte). Introduced by: Nicole Y. Chung. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Scott Westerfeld Presentation 11:40 am - 12:15 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Scott Westerfeld discusses "Impostors" (Scholastic). Introduced by: Joe Heim. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Holly Black Presentation 12:30 pm - 1:05 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Holly Black discusses "The Wicked King" (Little, Brown). Introduced by: Monica Valentine. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Finding Their Voices 1:20 pm - 2:00 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Mitali Perkins discusses "Forward Me Back to You" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Misa Sugiura discusses "This Time Will Be Different" (HarperTeen) in a panel conversation moderated by Lee Ann Potter. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Ngozi Ukazu Presentation 2:15 pm - 2:50 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Ngozi Ukazu discusses "Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey" (First Second). Introduced by: Warren Bernard. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Growing Up Hard 3:05 pm - 3:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Monica Hesse discusses "The War Outside" (Little, Brown) and Jarrett J. Krosoczka discusses "Hey, Kiddo" (Graphix/Scholastic) in a panel conversation moderated by Maria Russo. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Markus Zusak Presentation 4:00 pm - 4:40 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Markus Zusak discusses "Bridge of Clay" (Knopf). Introduced by: Steven Levingston. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks Presentation 4:50 pm - 5:30 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks launch their new book "Pumpkinheads" (First Second) in a discussion with Linda Holmes, author of "Evvie Drake Starts Over" (Ballantine). Introduced by: Neely Tucker. Teens
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Poetry Slam 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     A poetry slam is a contest in which poets read or recite their poems, which are then judged by a panel. This year's event will include some of the Metro area’s top youth slam groups. Team delegates from DC, Baltimore, and Salisbury, Maryland will compete to be named the festival's top youth slammer by performing new works on books and reading. Emcee: Elizabeth Acevedo.... Teens

Fiction

Genre Fiction

  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: Western Writers 10:00 am - 10:50 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Johnny D. Boggs discusses "The Kansas City Cowboys" (Blackstone), Anne Hillerman discusses "The Tale Teller: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel" (HarperCollins), Paul Andrew Hutton discusses "The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History" (Broadway) and Craig Johnson discusses "Depth of Winter" (Viking) in a panel conversation. Introduced by: Roswell... Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Victoria "V.E." Schwab Genre Fiction Presentation 11:00 am - 11:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Victoria "V.E." Schwab discusses "Vengeful" (Tor) with Jennifer Abella. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Seanan McGuire Presentation 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Seanan McGuire discusses "Middlegame" (Tor). Introduced by: John Kelly. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    John Scalzi Presentation 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     John Scalzi discusses "The Consuming Fire" (Tor). Introduced by: Phoebe Connelly. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Brianna Labuskes Presentation 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Brianna Labuskes discusses "Girls of Glass" (Thomas & Mercer) with Colleen Shogan. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Charlie Jane Anders Presentation 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Charlie Jane Anders discusses "The City in the Middle of the Night" (Tor). Introduced by: Phoebe Connelly. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Historical Novels 4:00 pm - 4:50 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Margaret George discusses "The Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero" (Berkley) and Philippa Gregory discusses "Tidelands" (Atria) in a panel conversation moderated by Petra Mayer. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Joe Ide Presentation 5:00 pm - 5:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Joe Ide discusses "Wrecked: An IQ Novel" (Mulholland). Introduced by: Stephanie Merry. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Sara Paretsky Presentation 6:00 pm - 6:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Sara Paretsky discusses "Shell Game: A V.I. Warshawski Novel" (William Morrow) with Maureen Corrigan. Genre Fiction
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    James Ellroy Presentation 7:00 pm - 7:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     James Ellroy discusses "This Storm" (Knopf). Introduced by: Tina Jordan. Genre Fiction

History & Biography

  • Event | lectures and symposia
    David Maraniss Presentation 10:00 am - 10:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     David Maraniss discusses "A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father" (Simon & Schuster) with Adam Kushner. Welcome by: Ryan Ramsey. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Joanne B. Freeman Presentation 11:00 am - 11:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Joanne B. Freeman discusses "The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) with John Haskell. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Brenda Wineapple Presentation 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Brenda Wineapple discusses "The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation" (Random House) with Dan Balz. Introduced by: John Haskell. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Casey Gerald Presentation 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Casey Gerald discusses "There Will Be No Miracles Here: A Memoir" (Riverhead) with Colleen Shogan. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Native American History 1:55 pm - 2:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Colin G. Calloway discusses "The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans and the Birth of the Nation" (Oxford University) and David Treuer discusses "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present" (Riverhead) in a panel conversation moderated by Gal Beckerman. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Elaine Weiss Presentation 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Elaine Weiss discusses "The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote" (Viking). Introduced by: Amy Argetsinger. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Douglas Brinkley Presentation 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Douglas Brinkley discusses "American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race" (HarperCollins) with David M. Rubenstein. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Evan Thomas Presentation 5:00 pm - 5:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Evan Thomas discusses "First: Sandra Day O’Connor" (Random House) with Colleen Shogan. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Andrew Roberts Presentation 6:00 pm - 6:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Andrew Roberts discusses "Churchill: Walking with Destiny" (Viking) with David M. Rubenstein. History & Biography
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Rick Atkinson Presentation 7:00 pm - 7:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Rick Atkinson discusses "The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777" (Henry Holt). Introduced by: Manuel Roig-Franzia. History & Biography

International

Poetry & Prose

  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Jericho Brown and the Poetry Out Loud Winners 10:00 am - 10:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Poetry Out Loud is a contest that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, this program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: Fiction Through a Different Lens 11:00 am - 11:50 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Aminatta Forna discusses "Happiness: A Novel" (Atlantic Monthly), R.O. Kwon discusses "The Incendiaries: A Novel" (Riverhead) and Valeria Luiselli discusses "Lost Children Archive: A Novel" (Knopf) in a panel conversation. Introduced by: Anya Creightney. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Poetry With a Purpose 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Jericho Brown discusses "The Tradition" (Copper Canyon) and Dorianne Laux discusses "Only as the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems" (Norton) in a panel conversation moderated by Rob Casper. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: The Art of the Short Story 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Brendan Mathews discusses "This Is Not a Love Song" (Little, Brown) and Lydia Millet discusses "Fight No More: Stories" (Norton) in a panel conversation moderated by Nora Krug. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: The Poetry of Place 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Natasha Trethewey discusses "Monument: Poems New and Selected" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Jenny Xie discusses "Eye Level: Poems" (Graywolf) in a panel conversation moderated by Anya Creightney. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Julia Alvarez Presentation 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Julia Alvarez discusses "In the Time of the Butterflies" (Algonquin) with Marie Arana. Introduced by: Amy Stolls. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: The Poetry of Silence 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Sheila Black discusses "The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked: The Fiction of Disability" (Cinco Puntos) and Ilya Kaminsky discusses "Deaf Republic: Poems" (Graywolf) in a panel conversation. Introduced by: Rob Casper. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: How to Raise a Reader 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Pamela Paul and Maria Russo launch their new book "How to Raise a Reader" (Workman) in a panel conversation with Linda Sue Park, author of "Nya’s Long Walk: A Step at a Time" (Clarion), Jon Scieszka, author of "AstroNuts Mission One: The Plant Planet" (Chronicle), and Renée Watson, author of "Watch Us Rise" (Bloomsbury). Moderated by: Lee Ann Potter. Introduced by: Mary Anne Carter. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Nathan Englander Presentation 6:10 pm - 6:55 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Nathan Englander discusses "kaddish.com: A Novel" (Knopf) with Glen Weldon. Introduced by: Jessica Flynn. Poetry & Prose
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: The Enduring Appeal of the Odyssey 7:05 pm - 7:55 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Alberto Manguel discusses "Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey: A Biography" (Grove), Madeline Miller discusses "Circe" (Little, Brown) and Emily Wilson discusses her translation of "The Odyssey" (Norton) in a panel conversation. Introduced by: Amy Stolls. Poetry & Prose

Science

  • Event | lectures and symposia
    David Sloan Wilson Presentation 10:00 am - 10:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     David Sloan Wilson discusses "This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution" (Pantheon) with Gal Beckerman. Welcome by: Shari Werb. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Jim Ottaviani Presentation 11:00 am - 11:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     Jim Ottaviani discusses "Hawking" (First Second). Introduced by: Michael Cavna. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Animal Emotions & Human-Animal Relations 12:00 pm - 12:50 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Alexandra Horowitz launches her new book "Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond" (Scribner) and Frans de Waal discusses "Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves" (Norton) in a panel conversation moderated by Betsy Herrelko. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Thomas W. Malone Presentation 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Thomas W. Malone discusses "Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together" (Little, Brown). Introduced by: Adam Kushner. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Peter Brannen Presentation 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Peter Brannen discusses "The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions" (Ecco) with John Haskell. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Beth Macy Presentation 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Beth Macy discusses "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America" (Little, Brown) with Pamela Paul. Introduced by: Leonard Bernstein. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Daniel Stone Presentation 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Daniel Stone discusses "The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats" (Dutton). Introduced by: Bonnie S. Benwick. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Lisa Margonelli Presentation 5:00 pm - 5:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Lisa Margonelli discusses "Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology" (Scientific American/Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Introduced by: Leonard Bernstein. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    David Quammen Presentation 6:00 pm - 6:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     David Quammen discusses "The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life" (Simon & Schuster). Introduced by: Manuel Roig-Franzia. Science
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Douglas Rushkoff Presentation 7:00 pm - 7:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Douglas Rushkoff discusses "Team Human" (Norton). Introduced by: Steven Levingston. Science

Understanding Our World

  • Event | lectures and symposia
    David Epstein Presentation 10:00 am - 10:45 am EDT
    Add to calendar     David Epstein discusses "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World" (Riverhead) with Anne-Imelda Radice. Welcome by: Jon Parrish Peede. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: Changemakers 11:00 am - 12:15 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Andrea Barnet discusses "Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall and Alice Waters Changed Our World" (Ecco), David W. Blight discusses "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom" (Simon & Schuster) and Andrew Roberts discusses "Churchill: Walking with Destiny" (Viking) in a panel conversation moderated by Kai Bird. Introduced by: Shari Werb. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: The Future of Western Capitalism and the Rise of Asia 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Parag Khanna discusses "The Future Is Asian" (Simon & Schuster) and Steven Pearlstein discusses "Can American Capitalism Survive?: Why Greed Is Not Good, Opportunity Is Not Equal and Fairness Won’t Make Us Poor" (St. Martin’s) in a panel conversation moderated by David M. Rubenstein. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Amy Gutmann and Jonathan D. Moreno Presentation 1:30 pm - 2:20 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Amy Gutmann and Jonathan D. Moreno launch their new book "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die: Bioethics and the Transformation of Health Care in America" (Liveright) in a discussion with Andrea Mitchell. Introduced by: Paul Farhi. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    David Grann Presentation 2:30 pm - 3:15 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     David Grann discusses "The White Darkness" (Doubleday) with Carlos Lozada. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: From the Many, One—Immigration Memoirs 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Reyna Grande discusses "A Dream Called Home: A Memoir" (Atria), Aleksandar Hemon discusses "My Parents: An Introduction/This Does Not Belong to You" (MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Suketu Mehta discusses "This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) in a panel conversation moderated by Carlos Lozada. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Conversation: Essential Libraries 4:45 pm - 5:30 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Joshua Hammer discusses "The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts" (Simon & Schuster) and Alberto Manguel discusses "Packing My Library: An Elegy and Ten Digressions" (Yale University) in a panel conversation moderated by Carla Hayden. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Elaine Pagels Presentation 5:45 pm - 6:30 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Elaine Pagels discusses "Why Religion?: A Personal Story" (Ecco) with Jon Parrish Peede. Understanding Our World
  • Event | lectures and symposia
    Panel: Race in America 6:45 pm - 7:45 pm EDT
    Add to calendar     Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses "Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy and the Rise of Jim Crow" (Penguin), Judge Richard Gergel discusses "Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring" (Sarah Crichton) and Steve Luxenberg discusses "Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation" (Norton)... Understanding Our World

Book Signings