The Library of Congress National Book Festival will celebrate its 25th year this Saturday on September 6, 2025. For this year’s festival information, visit the 2025 National Book Festival website.
Before we dive into our final blog post in the series, we’re sharing a few tips for all National Book Festival attendees, including those who will be watching from home:
We launched two updated and one new attendee guide this year. Check them out here:
Join the festival conversation and follow the Library on social media. Use #NatBookFest on Instagram!
Instagram: @librarycongress
Threads: @librarycongress
Facebook: Library of Congress
YouTube: Library of Congress
LinkedIn: Library of Congress
And now, back to our final highight video!
This is a guest post by Junior Fellow Riley Rhoder.
To honor the occasion, we are taking the 24 weeks leading up to this year’s festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to highlight two videos each week from past National Book Festivals, from the festival’s first year in 2001 to 2024. Each week we’ll highlight a past festival year, with one adult book event and one children’s book event from that year. To see the other videos from the 2024 festival, please go here. We hope you enjoy scrolling through the past with us! Check out videos from the first 2001 festival here.
Erik Larson is a journalist and New York Times bestselling author of nine narrative non-fiction books and one audio-only fiction novella. His book “The Devil in the White City” won an Edgar Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award, while “Isaac’s Storm” won the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 2016 Carl Sandburg Literary Award for nonfiction. Prior to his career as an author, Larson worked as a staff writer for the Wall Street Journal and a contributing writer for Time Magazine, and his writing also appeared in The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. Additionally, he taught nonfiction writing at a number of universities, including San Francisco State and the University of Oregon.
In the video below, Larson talks about his newest book “The Demon of Unrest,” highlighting the surprising ways the Civil War remains relevant to contemporary readers.
Larson begins speaking at 2:06, and the video proceeds as follows:
2:06: Writing about the Civil War
6:45: Research and writing process
8:53: Becoming a bestseller
10:02: His next book
12:31: Why the South seceded
18:05: Why the South didn’t believe Lincoln
18:46: Charleston Harbor
22:56: When Lincoln became president
27:07: Lincoln refuses to give up Fort Sumter
30:08: Bombarding Fort Sumter
31:25: Surrender
32:28: Lincoln’s incorrect spelling
33:02: Q&A Begins
Known as Verabee to her online fans, Vera Brosgol is a Russian-born cartoonist and storyboard artist. Her debut graphic novel “Anya’s Ghost” won the 2012 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Young Adults, and her picture book “Leave Me Alone!” won a 2016 Caldecott Honor. Prior to her career as an author, Brosgol storyboarded for Laika, a stop-motion animation studio. There she was Head of Story for “Pinnochio,” which went on to win an Academy Award. She also storyboarded for “Coraline,” “The Boxtrolls” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” among other films.
Writer and artist Kazu Kibuishi is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling series “Amulet.” The series has been translated into 23 languages and has sold over 10 million copies. Kibuishi is also the editor of the comic anthology series “Flight,” with the second volume earning him an Eisner Award nomination for Best Anthology. Before becoming a comic creator, Kibuishi worked as an animator for Shaded Box Animations. After leaving the company he got his start in comics when he created the webcomic “Copper,” which he produced monthly for seven years.
In the video below, Brosgol and Kibuishi talk about the trajectories of their respective careers while discussing scenes from their newest works “Plain Jane and the Mermaid” and “Waverider.”
Brosgol and Kibuishi begin speaking at 1:09, and the video proceeds as follows:
1:09: Hidden talents
2:07: Their friendship
2:52: 80s inspiration
4:34: Series development
5:36: Inspiration for “Plain Jane”
8:25: Kibuishi’s creative process
14:41: Brosgol’s creative process
19:40: Worldbuilding
21:09: Coloring
22:04: Limitations
23:07: Q&A begins
We hope you’ve enjoyed this series with us and are excited to experience the 2025 National Book Festival. See you there!