2009 National Book Festival Pavilions and Authors

John Grisham

(Fiction & Fantasy)
Lawyer-turned-literary-giant John Grisham found his earlier career eye-opening. “You realize how many people out there do not have access to civil justice,” said the author known for best-selling legal thrillers like “The Firm” and “A Time to Kill.”

- Gasper Tringale

Jodi Piccoult

(Fiction & Fantasy)
Jodi Picoult’s new book, “Handle With Care,” illustrates how far desperate parents will go to get the medical care they need, but cannot afford, for children born with rare disabilities. “If ever there were a health-care reform book, this is it,” she said.

- Everett Irving

John Irving

(Fiction & Fantasy)
Seasoned author John Irving talked about “the writing process.” His method is to write the last sentence of each book first. “When I get there, I know the whole book. It has already happened to me. I know who the characters are and when they will meet again.”

- Bill Eichner

Julia Alvarez

(Fiction & Fantasy)
Julia Alvarez discussed “the liberating power of reading and writing.” “By reading books together, by taking on the lives of others, we become freedom fighters,” she said, recalling the suppression of books and ideas during her early childhood in the Dominican Republic.

- Craig Mellish

Ken Burns & Dayton Duncan

(History & Biography)
Documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan described their PBS series and companion book titled “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” “Everyone in America owns these wonderful places,” said Burns, of the nation’s 58 parks. “I hope people flock to the parks.”

- Jerry Bauer

Annette Gordon-Reed

(History & Biography)
Historian Annette Gordon-Reed, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in history for “The Hemingses of Monticello,” sheds light on the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings. Gordon-Reed said Sally’s mother Elizabeth “is interesting because she knew the entire story.”

- Deborah Feingold

James Patterson

(Mysteries & Thrillers)
Best-selling mystery writer James Patterson switched gears with the 2005 debut of “Maximum Ride” for young adults. “It’s such a huge thing to get kids reading,” said the author, whose website readkiddoread.com lists the “crème de la crème” of children’s and young adult literature.

- Chia Chiung Chong

Paula Deen

(Teens & Children)
Food Network star and cookbook author Paula Deen has made her foray into children’s books. Her work, “My First Cookbook” introduces a whole new generation to butter and healthy snacks. “I loved those peanut butter balls,” she drawled, recalling her favorite childhood snack.

- Alice M. Arthur

Nicholas Sparks

(Fiction & Fantasy)
Novelist and screenwriter Nicholas Sparks joked with the mostly female readers of his stories of love lost and found. “I’ve got a tree in the backyard and it grows ideas.” On a serious note, he said he prefers to vary the ages of his characters from book to book.

- Robert Severi

Gwen Ifill

(History & Biography)
“Race is a subject that never gets old,” said “Washington Week” moderator Gwen Ifill, who spoke about her book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.” “Nothing prepared us for the rise of Obama, the freshman senator I thought would never be president.”

- Adriel Bettelheim

Junot Diaz

(Fiction & Fantasy)
Pulitizer Prize-winner Junot Diaz became a writer against his mother’s wish that he become a doctor. At first, his dream of writing “seemed like the stupidest thing you could do, at least in my world,” said Diaz, who was born in the Dominican Republic.

- Marty Umans

Jacqueline Woodson

(Teens & Children)
Children’s author Jacqueline Woodson is at heart a story-
teller. “Storytelling doesn’t happen in a vacuum. “We’re here because of the people who came before us,” said the author of “Show Way,” her family’s eight-generation saga from slavery to freedom.

Jeff Kinney

(Teens & Children)
Self-proclaimed “failed cartoonist” Jeff Kinney has developed a huge following for his “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series for children, which includes his illustrations. “Walk, don’t run,” he cautioned to the trail of children following him to the book signing area.

- Sigrid Estrada

Judy Blume

(Teens & Children)
Children’s author Judy Blume has been telling it like it is for more than 35 years, and that includes some delicate subject matter. “What’s controversial about puberty? We should talk about it and celebrate it rather than make it something to be afraid of. Censorship is based on fear.”

- Lee B. Ewing

Ralph Eubanks

(Poetry & Prose)
Ralph Eubanks read from “Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey into Mississippi’s Dark Past,” his “memoir woven in with social history,” and his family’s saga, “The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South.”