What an exciting day!? With the National Book Festival just hours away, things are really hopping here.
I began early this morning trying to meet Dr. Billington at the White House for some joint media interviews with Mrs. Laura Bush, but my entrance was delayed by a ?suspicious package? on 17th Street that turned out to be nothing.? Mrs. Bush?s ever-helpful staff got me inside well before the cameras rolled.
First up was a live interview with Steve Doocy of ?Fox & Friends? (transcript here, video here?hope the link works).
Then there was a longer, taped interview with C-SPAN, which will air at about 9:30 a.m. tomorrow (Sept. 29), right before they begin live, all-day coverage of the NBF.? C-SPAN?s main focus will be on the History & Biography pavilion, as well as a couple of presentations from the Veterans History Project in the Library of Congress pavilion.? Our own Web site will begin making same-day coverage of webcasts available from other author pavilions.
And finally, Mrs. Bush and Dr. Billington were interviewed by Seth, an 11-year-old reporter from the Weekly Reader.? Dr. Billington had other engagements, so I then split off and did a live interview with Bruce DePuyt of NewsChannel 8.
Best of all, tomorrow?s weather forecast on the National Mall could not be lovelier.? What better way to spend one of the year?s waning, beautiful weekends than with 100,000 of your fellow book-lovers?