The National Book Festival starts Saturday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest D.C., and this year’s lineup reaches well beyond the usual author roster. With over 80 speakers on the schedule, the day brings Cynthia Erivo, Martin Scorsese, and Kate McKinnon into a program built around books, but not limited to them.
Clay Smith, the literary director of the Library of Congress, said the festival is meant to show the breadth of the institution’s collections and bring in a broader look at American culture. He said, "We want people to understand the magic and the vastness of the collections at the Library of Congress" and described film preservation as "a major thing that we do here at the library."
Cynthia Erivo at 9 a.m.
The festival begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, and tickets are required. Erivo is coming to talk about her life as an artist and musician, and she will also present her new memoir. That puts a film and music figure inside a book festival program without turning the day into a one-note literary lineup.
Scorsese will talk about the importance of film preservation, while McKinnon is also set to speak at the daylong event. Max Brooks is among the other non-literary speakers, and he will present a radio play of his graphic novel, The Harlem Hellfighters, about a unit of African American soldiers in World War I.
Library of Congress reach
The festival still centers authors, with dozens discussing their work, but this year it is also deliberately showcasing film entertainers and other non-literary speakers. That mix makes the National Book Festival feel less like a standard book event and more like a broader public program about how stories move across page, screen, and sound.
Family-friendly activities, interactive programs, and workshops are part of the day as well, and the main-stage events will be livestreamed for people who cannot attend in person. The full rundown is available on the Library of Congress website, which is the practical place to check before heading to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
For anyone deciding whether to go, the useful facts are simple: arrive for a 9 a.m. start, plan for a ticketed entry, and expect a crowded schedule built around more than 80 speakers. The broader takeaway is sharper than that — the National Book Festival is using its scale to pull in major entertainment names while keeping authors at the center.
