National Book Festival in Washington, Sept. 26

Posted 09 1 2009 1:43PM

WASHINGTON – A slew of celebrity writers from John Irving to Jodi Picoult are scheduled to take part in this year's National Book Festival in Washington, scheduled for Sept. 26.

Other famous authors expected to participate include James Patterson, Marilynne Robinson, Judy Blume, John Grisham, Junot Diaz, Colson Whitehead, Jeannette Walls, and Julia Glass.

The event, organized by the Library of Congress and held on the National Mall, is free.

Patterson, author of the Alex Cross series of thrillers set in Washington, will present at the Mysteries & Thrillers Pavilion, along with George Pelicanos, whose books are also set in Washington.

Patterson, who writes novels aimed at teens too, will appear at the Teens & Children pavilion as well, along with Nikki Grimes, Sharon Creech and Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, who will appear with his collaborator, Carmen Agra Deedy.

Authors from the history and biography genre scheduled to appear at the event include Douglas Brinkley, Ken Burns, Gwen Ifill, Sue Monk Kidd and Simon Schama.

To get up-to-the-minute information for this year's event such as author activities and day-of event details, follow the Library of Congress on Twitter or become a fan of the Library of Congress on Facebook. The library also plans to launch, at the festival, a Web site called Read.gov, to pull together all of the Library's literary-promotion programs.

If you can't make it to the event, you can listen to podcasts featuring interviews with festival authors. The podcasts are free through the Library of Congress Web site or on iTunes.

For more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/bookfest.

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