This post is by Brett Zongker, Chief of Media Relations in the Library’s Office of Communications.
The Library of Congress will host the 2025 National Book Festival on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, at the Washington Convention Center!
This will mark the 25th anniversary of the Library of Congress National Book Festival, which was co-founded in 2001 with first lady Laura Bush. In 2025, the festival will expand its footprint in the Washington Convention Center to host book lovers from across the region and nationwide. For festival updates, subscribe to this blog here.
“We are thrilled to announce plans are set to celebrate the National Book Festival’s 25th anniversary in September 2025,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “This festival has grown to become one of the most beloved literary events in the nation and one of the most popular festivals in our nation’s capital.”
The festival is free for everyone and provides a full day of conversations with dozens of authors, poets and illustrators from a variety of genres about their latest books and book signings with each writer. The festival offers readings, giveaways and activities for children and young adults, as well as the opportunity to purchase books from the festival’s official bookseller.
At the 2024 festival, tens of thousands of people joined the festival. Videos of select stages are available online, and NPR produced a series of podcast interviews from festival presentations, extending the festival’s reach.
Will we see you at the Washington Convention Center on September 6th, 2025?
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The National Book Festival is made possible by the generous support of private- and public-sector sponsors who share the Library’s commitment to reading and literacy, led by National Book Festival Co-Chair David M. Rubenstein.
Comments (19)
The top of the press release says September 6th, and at the bottom it says September 5th.
The date has been updated to September 6th. We hope to see you there!
I believe there is a typographical error calling out Friday Sept 5 as the Festival date later in this post.
The date has been updated to September 6th. We hope to see you there!
I’ve been enjoying the Book Festival for many years going back to when it was held on the Mall. The 2024 festival was soooo crowded. I imagine since this year is the 25th anniversary it’ll be even more crowded. But I will be there!
I have always wanted to attend. i am a librarian of 40 plus years.
; )
Linda
Congrats on the date for 2025!
Hope the team will make every effort to be more inclusive and invite authors from across the idealogical spectrum including Peggy Noonan, Ken Khachigian and Bob Woodward who has a new book out on both President Joe Biden and President-Elect Trump.
I have been twice to the Festival and plan on attending in 2025. It is a great festival, well organized and staffed. That said, 2024 was very crowded, with some sessions overflowing so I was not able to attend. Also, though the staff did their best, some of the signature lines were excceptionally slow and long. So please encourage authors to keep it short and sweet and move those llines!
When will participants be notified?
Dear Linda, if you’re referring to when writers who will be featured at the 2025 festival are notified, that happens on a rolling basis throughout the first months of 2025.
How can I sell books at this event? Thank you!
The books by featured authors are sold at the festival. If you’d like to nominate an author, please fill out this form. All nominations must be submitted by publishers or literary agents.
Hi, could you point me toward a site where authors and speakers could submit a proposal to participate?
Thanks!
Of course, please fill out this form. All nominations must be submitted by publishers or literary agents.
Are you accepting applications for authors to participate?
We are accepting author nominations through January 31st. All nominations must be submitted by publishers or literary agents. You can find the form here: https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-book-festival/contact-us/author-nomination-form/
I hope the NBF will still take place later this year and I would love to see it at the LoC, but I can easily believe Trump will intervene and cancel it solely because many guest authors have publicly opposed him.
when will the schedule of authors be released? or the time range of when we can expect the schedule/list to drop?
The author lineup will become available later this summer. The online and PDF versions of the Festival schedule will become available approximately one month prior to the Festival. Make sure you are subscribed to this blog for the latest updates!