This is a joint guest post by Deb Fiscella, public affairs specialist at the Library, and Brett Zongker, the Library’s chief of media relations.
Uniting book lovers for 25 years, the Library of Congress National Book Festival will return on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Throughout the day, attendees will hear conversations with more than 90 authors whose literary genres range from fiction to nonfiction, picture book to biography, poetry to young adult, and more.
This year’s author lineup includes the following headliners:
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett (General Nonfiction) – Justice Barrett provides a glimpse of her journey to the Supreme Court and an account of her approach to the Constitution in her new book “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.”
- Geena Davis (Picture Book) – Two-time Academy Award-winner Davis has written and illustrated her first picture book, “The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Pages.”
- Ron Chernow (Biography) – Pulitzer Prize-winner Chernow, whose exploration of Alexander Hamilton’s life became a Broadway musical sensation, discusses his latest biography, “Mark Twain.”
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fiction) – Award-winning author and MacArthur fellow, Adichie returns to fiction with “Dream Count,” her first novel in a decade.
- John Green (General Nonfiction) – Bestselling author and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, Green shares his newest and deeply human nonfiction title, “Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection”
- Joy Harjo, Ada Limón and Tracy K. Smith (Poetry and Translation) – The three most recent U.S. Poets Laureate discuss their latest books: “Washing My Mother’s Body: A Ceremony for Grief” (Harjo); “Startlement: New and Selected Poems” (Limón); and “To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul” (Smith).
- Mac Barnett (Middle Grade) – The current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature returns to the festival with the third book in his popular graphic novel series, “The First Cat in Space.”
- Jill Lepore (History) – Prize-winning professor and award-winning author and essayist, Lepore appears at the National Book Festival for the first time with “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution,” a deep dive into American constitutionalism and constitutional interpretation.
- Yuval Levin (History) – Scholar Levin explores the important history of the Constitution and its power to forge unity in a diverse society in his new book “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again.”
- R. L. Stine (Middle Grade) – Back at the festival for the first time in 13 years, the legendary king of spine-tingling stories talks about his two chilling new books: “Stinetinglers 4: 3 Chilling Tales by the Master of Scary Stories” and “The Last Sleepover.”
- Scott Turow (Fiction) – From his appearance at the first National Book Festival to his fifth this year, fan favorite Turow returns with “Presumed Guilty,” the third novel in his bestselling legal thriller series “Presumed Innocent,” which was recently adapted for television by Apple TV+.
The full lineup of more than 90 authors by genre is listed below and can be found here.
Attend the Festival
The National Book Festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. The festival is free and open to everyone.
In addition to the vast array of author conversations, the festival offers a wide range of family-friendly activities, workshops and interactive programs for attendees of all ages that showcase the Library’s rich resources. These include storytelling at the Story District; literary activities to spark a passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the STEM District; hands-on learning opportunities at the Workshop Space; hearing from experts about the hidden gems, historic treasures and innovative work happening at the nation’s Library; and taking a literary trip around the country by visiting the Roadmap to Reading, featuring reading options from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas.
Visit loc.gov/bookfest to learn more about attending the festival. A comprehensive schedule will be available on the website and announced on this blog in the coming weeks. Subscribe here for updates on festival plans and more.
Join the Festival Online and On Television
For book lovers unable to join the festival in person, the events on the Main Stage will be livestreamed on loc.gov/bookfest. Videos of all presentations will be made available at loc.gov and on the Library’s YouTube channel shortly after the festival.
C-SPAN’s Book TV will return to the National Book Festival as a media partner to televise select events and interview featured authors. Media partners also include NPR and The Washington Post.
Author Lineup (as of July 8)
Fiction
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – “Dream Count”
Kashana Cauley – “The Payback”
Susan Choi – “Flashlight”
Ron Currie – “The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne”
Alison Espach – “The Wedding People”
Elizabeth Harris – “How to Sleep at Night”
Cristina Henríquez – “The Great Divide: A Historical Novel of the Panama Canal”
Katie Kitamura – “Audition”
Laila Lalami – “The Dream Hotel”
Liz Moore – “The God of the Woods”
Nnedi Okorafor – “Death of the Author”
Helen Phillips – “Hum”
V.E. Schwab – “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil”
Maggie Su – “Blob: A Love Story”
Scott Turow – “Presumed Guilty”
Willy Vlautin – “The Horse”
Jess Walter – “So Far Gone”
Chris Whitaker – “All the Colors of the Dark”
Genre Fiction
Joe Abercrombie – “The Devils”
Agustina Bazterrica – “The Unworthy”
Shannon Chakraborty – “The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi”
Alexis Daria – “Along Came Amor”
Fiona Davis – “The Stolen Queen”
Stephen Graham Jones – “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter”
Tochi Onyebuchi – “Harmattan Season”
Kennedy Ryan – “Can’t Get Enough”
Biography, History and Memoir
Rick Atkinson – “The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780”
Geraldine Brooks – “Memorial Days: A Memoir”
Ron Chernow – “Mark Twain”
Paul Elie – “The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex and Controversy in the 1980s”
Garrett M. Graff – “The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb”
Jill Lepore – “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution”
Yuval Levin – “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – And Could Again”
Clay Risen – “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America”
Sam Tanenhaus – “Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America”
General Nonfiction
David Baron – “The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett – “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution”
Elias Weiss Friedman – “This Dog Will Change Your Life”
Brian Goldstone – “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America”
John Green – “Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection”
Alexandra Horowitz – “Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know”
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers – “Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings”
Ian Kumekawa – “Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge”
Peter Kuper – “Insectopolis: A Natural History” and “Coloring Insectopolis”
Kate Marvel – “Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet”
Patrick McGee – “Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company”
Imani Perry – “Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People”
Mark Rowlands – “The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life”
Leah Sottile – “Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets and the Fever Dream of the American New Age”
Gianna Toboni – “The Volunteer: The Failure of the Death Penalty in America and One Inmate’s Quest to Die with Dignity”
Alan Weisman – “Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future”
Poetry and Translation
Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellows
Joy Harjo – “Washing My Mother’s Body: A Ceremony for Grief”
Ada Limón – “Startlement: New and Selected Poems”
Daniel Mendelsohn – “The Odyssey”
Tracy K. Smith – “To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul”
Young Adult
Kelly Andrew – “I Am Made of Death”
Susan Dennard – “The Executioners Three”
Tracy Deonn – “Oathbound”
Channelle Desamours – “Needy Little Things”
Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia – “On Again, Awkward Again”
Tahereh Mafi – “Watch Me”
Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite – “The Summer I Ate the Rich”
Caroline O’Donoghue – “Skipshock”
Marisha Pessl – “Darkly”
Ransom Riggs – “Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry”
Elle Gonzalez Rose – “The Girl You Know”
Mariko Tamaki – “This Place Kills Me”
Middle Grade
Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft – “J vs. K”
Katherine Applegate – “Pocket Bear”
Andrea Beatriz Arango – “It’s All or Nothing, Vale”
Mac Barnett – “The First Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip”
Jorge Cham – “Oliver’s Great Big Universe: Volcanoes Are Hot!”
Gale Galligan – “Fresh Start”
Tiffany D. Jackson – “Blood in the Water”
Leah Johnson – “Bree Boyd Is a Legend”
Kate Messner – “The Trouble with Heroes”
Chris Raschka – “Peachaloo in Bloom”
Raúl the Third – “The Snips: A Bad Buzz Day”
Eleanor Spicer Rice – “The Deadliest: Spider”
R.L. Stine – “Stinetinglers 4: 3 Chilling Tales by the Master of Scary Stories” and “The Last Sleepover”
J.E. Thomas – “The AI Incident”
Paul Tremblay – “Another”
Renée Watson – “All the Blues in the Sky”
Picture Books
Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio – “The Invisible Parade”
Geena Davis – “The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page”
Devin Elle Kurtz – “The Bakery Dragon”
Kiese Laymon – “City Summer, Country Summer”
Debbie Levy – “The Friendship Train: A True Story of Helping and Healing After World War II”
Christy Mandin – “Millie Fleur Saves the Night”
Who are you most excited about seeing at the festival this year?
The author lineup is subject to change.
7/17/2025: Author lineup has been updated.
Comments (19)
This is an incredible line-up! Thank you very much. I’ll be there. 🙂
Amy Coney Barrett?? If we want to hear about a handmaid, invite Margaret Atwood instead.
I was inadvertently excluded from the author’s list. How can I get on the list, or allowed to set up a booth to discuss my works?
Hello, thank you for reaching out. Could you please contact us with more information about your participation? Thank you!
Great lineup! My second most eagerly anticipated event of the year (First was my son’s wedding)
Over half these authors I do not know of but I will be there. What a celebration!
What a wonderful lineup!! Wondering how the crowd control will be this year for the more popular authors. I went last year, but the crowds were out of control and the ONLY author that I know extended their signing (to the point the space was closed and they took it outside) was Abby Jimenez.
It was wonderful to have so many attendees at last year’s festival. We learned from the crowd control challenges and have solutions ready to go in our signing area, such as relocating to a larger space and rearranging the timing.
Most of our signings are scheduled to be one hour, so any author who goes over is volunteering their time, and we’re grateful when they do. We hope to see you there!
Interesting lineup. Will look for videos.
Hello Sasha,
I was never contacted about being a guest author or getting a table for my new book or poetry, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone, though my publisher reached out. Who should we contact? Thanks. Shonda
Hello Shonda, thank you for your interest in the National Book Festival and for submitting your work for consideration! The festival receives many more submissions than is possible to include in the lineup. Soon after this year’s festival, the submission period for National Book Festival 2026 will begin and the nomination form will become available on the festival’s website.
Missing some of the best writers. CJ Box is by far the best. Books are interesting from beginning to end. Margaret coel writes about wind river res and a priest great series. PATRICIA BRIGGS who wrote silver borne she is from TriCities in Washington all her books are captivating. Don’t miss out on these great stories. Lots more your missing. JA Vance especially love JP Beaumont series.
Thank you! My book worm soul is so happy that despite the government cuts this annual festival is taking place. Thank you LOC for all the hard work you do to keep free speech and ideas going. This year has some of my favorite authors. (I bet he hasn’t read a book since middle school)😅
Wonderful 🫠
Looking forward to the festival and am so happy there have been no financial cuts or other interference. I was afraid there might be no festival this year.
I’m curious why Brendan Slocumb has never appeared at the festival. His novels have a music theme and his third novel was published this year. He’s an African-American writer, lives in DC and has been a school music educator.
This will be my first in-person book festival. is there advance sign-up to see specific authors? Should I buy the book at the festival before the speech to get it autographed?
The signings are first come, first served. You can buy books in person from Politics and Prose at the convention center for all authors. If you’d like to bring any books, check the signing preferences for the authors you’re interested in!
When can we expect the schedule to be published? I am trying to plan ahead & keep looking every day & disappointed every day when it’s not there yet 😢.
We publish the schedule approximately a month before the festival, so it’s coming soon! If you subscribe to this blog, you will receive an alert about the schedule launch right away.