Welcome to our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival. Each weekday, we will feature a video presentation from among the thousands of authors who have appeared at the National Book Festival and as part of our new year-long series, National Book Festival Presents. Mondays will feature topical nonfiction; Tuesday: poetry or literary fiction; Wednesday: history, biography, memoir; Thursday: popular fiction; and Friday: authors who write for children and teens. Please enjoy, and make sure to explore our full National Book Festival video collection!
David Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker since 1998; he had been a staff writer there since 1992. Since Remnick became editor, The New Yorker has won numerous National Magazine Awards. During the previous 10 years, Remnick was a staff writer at The Washington Post.
Remnick came to the History & Biography stage of the 2010 Library of Congress National Book Festival to discuss “The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama.” Marie Arana, the Library’s literary director, introduces Remnick, who begins his presentation at 4:45. He talks about why he wrote a biography of Obama when the 44th president had already penned his own memoirs. Remnick said that as part of his research he interviewed some of Obama’s law professors at Harvard, and from those interviews he realized “there was a story to tell.” Q&A begins at 17:50.
The 2020 Library of Congress National Book Festival will celebrate its 20th birthday this year. You can get up-to-the-minute news, schedule updates and other important festival information by subscribing to this blog. The festival is made possible by the generosity of sponsors. You too can support the festival by making a gift now.