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A brightly colored mosaic of geometric shapes with "National Book Festival" written in black type over the them.

National Book Festival This Saturday!

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

The Libarary's 2023 National Book Festival on August 12 features a stunning array literary stars including Amor Towls, Beverly Gage, Victor Lavelle, Elizabeth Acevedo, Rebecca Makkai, David Grann, S.A. Crosby, Cheuk Kwan and Tahir Hamut Izgil. Librarian of Congress will present the Prize for American Fiction to novelist George Saunders at day's end.

Joni Mitchell and Carla Hayden on stage, each seated, in conversation.

Joni Mitchell’s Conversation in the Library

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

The Library wrapped up its tribute to Joni Mitchell on a high note last week with a conversation between the 2023 Gershwin Prize winner and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. In an exchange punctuated by laughter and ending in song, Mitchell detailed her unexpected evolution as a musical pathbreaker. The article contains a link to a video of the conversation.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

My Job: Katie Klenkel, Connecting Visitors to the World’s Largest Library

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Describe your work at the Library. I’m the chief of the Visitor Engagement Office. I oversee a team of people — both staff and volunteers — who welcome thousands of visitors to the Library’s public spaces and exhibitions each day. In addition to acting as front-line customer service, we also help visitors connect to the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

National Book Festival: Thousands Spent the Holiday with a Good Book

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

The Library's 2022 National Book Festival was the first in-person festival in three years, since COVID shut down much of public life in D.C, and thousands of readers and fans thronged the Convention Center in search of a good read. Celebrities such as Janelle Monae, Nick Offerman, Leslie Jordan and Megan Mullally were there to greet them. So were big names in fiction, non-fiction and children's books, including Geraldine Brooks, Karen Joy Fowler and Mitch Albom.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pic of the Week: James Baldwin’s “Little Man, Little Man”

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Aisha Karefa-Smart, James Baldwin’s niece, reads from a recently released edition of “Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood,” the only children’s book Baldwin wrote, at a Library of Congress panel discussion on Feb. 28, 2019. Karefa-Smart, a D.C.-based author, wrote the book’s afterword. The book was originally written in 1971, when Baldwin was …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Crowdsourcing Helps to Unlock the Mystery of Cursive

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Julie Miller, a historian in the Manuscript Division, and Victoria Van Hyning, a senior innovation specialist in the division. This post coincides with National Handwriting Day. “That’s so beautiful, but what does it say?” This is what we often hear from visitors to the Library of Congress when they …