Pics of the Week: 2014 National Book Festival

Now in its 14th year, the Library of Congress National Book Festival welcomed book lovers to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center — a new venue for this year — on Saturday. More than 100 authors, poets and illustrators were featured throughout the day and evening, packing crowds into pavilions such as History & Biography, Poetry & Prose, Contemporary Life, Science, Fiction & Mystery, Children’s, Teen’s and Culinary Arts.

Throughout the day and after, festival-goers tweeted #NatBookFest their thoughts on the event:

“Great venue and incredible authors”

“Thanks @librarycongress for an excellent festival. Incredible experiences with so many authors. #NatBookFest is a national treasure”

“Was excellent yesterday. especially all the young readers, engaged and excited – the authors i saw were poised, clear, funny”

In the coming weeks, the Library will be posting videos from the festival presentations. In the meantime, here is a sampling of photos from the event to enjoy.

Crowds attend the National Book Festival, held for the first time at the Washington Convention Center. Photo by Colena Turner

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is interviewed by by National Book Festival Co-Chairman David M. Rubenstein. Photo by Shealah Craighead

Chef Daniel Thomas demonstrates a recipe from his book, "Recipes for a New You: Healthy Eating at Its Best" in the new Culinary Demonstration pavilion. Photo by Ralphael Small — Chef Daniel Thomas demonstrates a recipe from his book, “Recipes for a New You: Healthy Eating at Its Best” in the new Culinary Demonstration pavilion. Photo by Ralphael Small

Great Books to Great Movies panel, featuring (from left) E.L. Doctorow, Alice McDermott, Lisa See and Paul Aster. Photo by Shealah Craighead

Festival attendee Hanna Fisher of Fairfax, Va., asks a question of Fiction and Mystery author Ismael Beah. Photo by David Rice

Evangeline Mackey, Library staff, reads to children at the 2014 National Book Festival. Photo by Ralphael Small

Comments (3)

Lara Nieberding says:

September 4, 2014 at 10:41 am

I really enjoyed the 2014 National Book Festival! The venue was great. Even though there were a lot of people at the festival the crowd control was handled well. By that I mean, it was easy to navigate to the different events. The checkout process in the book store and the book signing sessions by authors were organized and so efficient. Overall, this was an excellent event. I am looking forward to next year’s National Book Festival!

Barbara Treasure says:

September 4, 2014 at 6:11 pm

Three friends and I had the best time. I thought the transition to the Convention Center was very well done. John Lewis and Doris Kearns Goodwin were inspiring.I wished that the overflow crowd from Doris Kearns Goodwin’s talk could have viewed it on a giant screen outside the filled-to-capacity hall, and I wished that Library of Congress had consulted with Otakon about how to manage heavy crowding. Ms. Goodwin and her colleagues had to struggle through a deep crowd to get into the hall for her presentation. Managed access would have been safer for everyone. Growing pains. Commuting by train from Baltimore, I had to leave before the graphic novel session began. It’s my reason for coming in previous years.

Zackary Johnson says:

October 3, 2014 at 6:58 pm

I bet there was sooooo much to look at! I’m from MN so i probably won’t make the 15th!

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